Make-A-Wish, UFC grant wishes for 12 kids in Las Vegas
Camila Lausso always wanted to visit Europe, even before she was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin lymphoma. On Monday, the 16-year-old found out she would get her wish.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation and Ultimate Fighting Championship announced on World Wish Day that 12 kids’ wishes would be granted in the nonprofit’s largest-ever reveal in Southern Nevada.
Kids between 4 and 16 were brought to UFC headquarters for the event, but they weren’t told what would happen.
“Oh my gosh, I’m like super excited,” Lausso said after the reveal that she and her family would be visiting Rome and Paris. “I had a small clue, I had a suspicion, but I’m still so surprised.”
She thought that if her wish was granted, she’d find out about it on Wednesday, her 17th birthday.
Lausso was diagnosed with and treated for Hodgkin lymphoma in 2015, but it returned again a year later. After a year of chemotherapy and radiation, she’s cancer-free.
“So it was a lot more aggressive treatment this time, but I got through it, and I’m here,” she said.
The Southern Nevada chapter of Make-A-Wish was founded in 1996 and has granted more 2,000 wishes to children diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. It also hosts children whose wishes involve traveling to Las Vegas.
UFC announcer Bruce Buffer revealed the wishes one by one. Six-year-old Emma Dangler told him that her wish was to go “horseback widing,” and she squealed and jumped for joy when she learned she’ll get to visit a ranch to ride horses and donkeys.
“Where there’s a wish, there’s a way,” Buffer said after the reveal. “Today’s celebration and record-breaking wish reveal proves that in a big way.”
Six of the children, including 4-year-old Gia Adams, asked to go to Disneyland. Adams offered a shy smile when Buffer told her she’d get to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and quietly said “thank you” into the microphone.
Aileen Say Sanchez, 15, is also going to Paris; Acacia Yearwood, 15, is going on a shopping spree in Los Angeles; Joel Mendez, 12, is going to Hawaii.
After the reveal, the kids and their families met UFC fighters Uriah Hall and Pat Cummins and posed for photos.
Lausso already has her itinerary planned for Europe. In Paris, she’s going to visit the Louvre Museum, the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysees. She wants to see the Colosseum in Rome and “eat all the food. That’s a must.”
Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0365. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.
