We don’t grant wishes for short-term smiles. We grant wishes to positively impact long-term health results*.
Make-A-Wish was the subject of a study to measure how wish-granting experiences influence the medical outcomes of children with cancer. Sixty-six children were evaluated using three different verified, respected, widely used assessment tools. The tools quantify hope, positive emotions, health-related quality of life and anxiety.
“It is possible that wishing enabled these children to dream about that seemed unobtainable, out of reach, and thus created an experience of achieving the impossible,” researchers wrote.
And if the impossible can happen once, children can believe in their ability to live with or even overcome their illnesses. That’s the real purpose of a wish.