In It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Linus stays up all night in a pumpkin patch awaiting the Great Pumpkin.
“Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He’s got to pick this one. He’s got to. I don’t see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one.”
This year, the sincerest pumpkin patch was right here in Lethbridge, as the community gathered to support a young boy with cerebral palsy in getting his wish granted.
At the 29th annual Giant Pumpkin Festival and Auction at Greenhaven Garden Centre on Sept. 29, the pumpkins were large, and the hearts were larger.
“[Children’s Wish Foundation] is invited here every year by the wonderful folks at Greenhaven Garden Centre. We’re very excited to be able to hold this fundraiser here. This event seems to grow every which enables us to have more wishes granted through our organization and the community,” said Carly Morrison, development coordinator at Children’s Wish Foundation.
Some of the funds raised at the festival this year helped to grant the wish of 10-year-old Jaxon Hungrywolf through an auction, concession and several family activities.
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Jaxon was born six weeks premature.
As the months and years went by, his development was noticeably delayed from where it should’ve been, but his condition went undiagnosed.
Brenda Hungrywolf, Jaxon’s mother, said she didn’t think he would make it past his first birthday.
When Jaxon was around two years old, and he still hadn’t begun walking or talking, his mother proposed to doctors it may be cerebral palsy.
The doctors did the tests and she was correct.
Jaxon, now 10-years-old, is planning his wish with Children’s Wish Foundation.
“He wants to go to Disneyworld next Christmas and have a lightsabre battle with Darth Vader at Star Wars Land. He also wants to cut the ribbon to open up Disney World. You can tell he’s researched it a lot,” said Hungrywolf.
The family’s pediatrician set them up with the charity, which grants wishes to children between the ages of three and 17 with life-threatening illnesses.
Hungrywolf said she is still amazed at the idea this is happening for her son.
“This is crazy. I didn’t know what to expect and I’m a little overwhelmed. Just to keep being told it’s for his wish and it’s going to come true. Every time I talk to the foundation I expect them to say, ‘oh we’ve changed our minds,’ just because I can’t believe something this good is going to come true for him.”
Jaxon, along with his mother, father and sister, is setting out for Disneyworld around Christmas of 2019, as Star Wars Land is not set to open until late-fall of that year.
“He’s so excited. We’re all excited. We get out the calendar; we have to count how many days. We’re always like, ‘it’s way more than 400 days, buddy.’”
It’s a long time to wait, but the path leading to this point was certainly longer.
