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Sam’s Wish, A Heartwarming Memory by Teesa Klear

If you had told me when my son was born what the future held, I would not have believed it. He seemed to perfect, and physically he was. But at 10 months-old, Sam got a high fever and had what looked like a febrile seizure. An EMT on the scene told me it would only be a bad memory and I could put it down as the worst day of my life by the end of the day, but he was way off.

After two “febrile seizures” within 24 hours, we knew something was wrong. They weren’t febrile seizures at all, but instead were evidence of Sam’s heart going into VTAC (a very fast heart rhythm). Sam was diagnosed with Brugada Syndrome, a rare (and only recently identified) heart arrhythmia that is life threatening. There has been evidence to suggest that Brugada Syndrome is the leading cause of SIDS (along with another arrhythmia called Long QT Syndrome) and heart failure of people in their 40’s.

Sam received an internal defibrillator when he was 11 months-old and now has that safety net to prevent death due to his arrhythmia. We had always heard about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but never really applied it to our own lives. Then, recently, I realized that Sam might actually qualify to receive a wish of his own. So I applied on his behalf and after a lot of paperwork and doctor’s approval, Sam was granted his wish.
Sam, who is now three and a half, wished to take a train ride to see Peter Pan. That meant an overnight train down to Disney World. I never, in my wildest dreams, could have imagined what that trip would hold for our family of four (plus one on the way).

We woke Sam up around 4:30 in the morning and put him in his first limousine. He’s ridden in plenty of ambulances, and probably every other form of transportation out there, but never a limo. He loved the ride down to the Charlotte Amtrak station and greatly enjoyed our Business Class seats to Raleigh. We spent the day with my brother and his family there and then boarded an overnight train to Kissimmee, Florida. We had our own berths on the train and awoke to the palm trees whizzing by our window. We even had a special breakfast in the diningcar, where the wait staff fawned over Sam’s special Wish.



The Make-A-Wish Foundation handled Sam’s wish amazingly. They arranged for us to stay at a special Wish village called Give Kids the World, where children from all over the world with many different Wish organizations stay while going to Disney World. We had our own villa while we were there, unlimited ice cream from the ice cream parlor, meals, character meet-and-greets and much more.


When we got to Disney World, we headed to the Peter Pan ride. Sam was allowed to go through twice without even getting off. Afterwards, a cast member arranged for Peter Pan (and Wendy) to come out to see Sam and spend time with him.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted Sam a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he will never forget. The organization is truly amazing and, although it is supported by corporations and companies, it greatly relies on individual donations.

Sam will live a long life thanks to his internal defibrillator. He sees his cardiologist about every three months and only has issues when he has a very high fever, but will never suffer cardiac arrest or heart failure because of the failsafe of his defibrillator. Thanks to an amazing cardiologist who “happened” to know that complex febrile seizures (more than one in a 24 hour period) is an indication of Brugada Syndrome, and God’s grace in protecting Sam, he will live a long life. And thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, this year has been a happy one for Sam.

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