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This is why I am asking the question, but also why I am hurt by the response from Make-A-Wish.

I feel that some history should be shared in order to explain why this has not only been personal to me, but also has caused me many dilemmas. I was diagnosed with Childhood Leukemia on October 14th, 1993 and went through 3 years of intense chemotherapy and months of cranial radiation. I was never expected to survive and was told so one more than one occasion by multiple doctors.

My first time being able to return home after living at a Ronald McDonald House in Danville, PA for over a year was with mixed feelings. It was great to be able to see my childhood home after so long, but I was no longer able to use the stairs to make it to me bedroom. I lived on an air mattress in our living room before a bed was able to be purchased. And even after we were able to purchase mattress and bed frame, I still lived in the living room.

I had a wish, my wish was to have a room again, a room that we thought I might be spending my last days in. Make-A-Wish granted this wish. It started out being the most expensive wish ever granted, but thanks to the connections that my mother had from working for many years at a building supply company, most of the materials and all of the work was donated, making the wish one of the lowest priced granted.

My mother and I traveled back and forth, 3 hours away, 4 or more times a week for me to receive treatments so that I could spend some time at home. I spent months in the hospital due to complications and I still travel to the medical group almost every other week for continued treatments and checkups due to the effects of extremely high doses of chemotherapy and medications, some that were experimental, needed to save my life. I was told that by testing some of these medications or at those levels that it would not save my life, but that it might help others.

Along with my family I helped to organize fundraisers for Make-A-Wish and was even the first child to ever have their picture on a star to be sold as a fundraiser. I have always supported Make-A-Wish and even with this issue I will continue to do so, but their words have hurt me deeply!

And yes, I am also a proud gay man! I support not just those that are in the LGBTQ+ community, but all people around the country and around the world. We are all human and I feel that we should help each stand up and be proud of who we are, no matter what color your skin, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, the gender you were born with or for any other reason. Nothing should be a reason to be discriminated against or treated differently than others!

As you can tell from the above statements that I have had to not just fight for equal rights and acceptance in my life, but I have had to literally fight for my life itself!