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Truman Grants Make-A-Wish for LHS Student
April 25, 2018
Truman Middle School students have been working hard all year to make Lindbergh High School junior Wil Ohler’s wish come true, and on April 20, they gathered the entire student body to give him the trip of a lifetime: a vacation to Spain to watch his favorite soccer players compete.
Students beat the drums, shouted cheers and waved colorful posters as Wish Kid Wil Ohler entered the Truman gymnasium and was presented with a $7,306.50 check to Make-A-Wish. Wil was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in May 2017. This May, he will travel to Spain with his family and watch his favorite soccer stars Lionel Messi and Cristano Ronaldo compete with the Barcelona and Real Madrid football clubs.
As a “Kids for Wish Kids” school, Truman organized several fundraisers this year to make Wil’s dream come true. Last year, students and staff raised $5,000 to send a local 7-year-old boy to Disney World. Most recently, Lindbergh middle school and high school faculty packed Flyers Field stadium at LHS for a faculty soccer game that raised $1,789.54 in donations. Other fundraising efforts for Wil have included penny wars, restaurant fundraisers, hat day, a pie throwing contest, hot chocolate sales, bake sales, Make-A-Wish T-shirt sales and a spirit week.
“There is not one good thing about cancer, but Make-A-Wish gives kids something to look forward to,” said Wil’s mom, Tamara Ohler, who teaches PEGS at Sperreng Middle School. “It does not take away the pain, the worry, the loss of time, or the diagnosis, but it does give a child fighting a life threatening illness another thing to fight for by giving them something to look forward to. Also for our family it gives us another reason to not only rally around Wil, but to make memories with him that hopefully will eventually overshadow this horrible time in our lives.”
Throughout his illness, Wil has found ways to give back to others and be a ray of light and hope to other kids with cancer. He is currently working to collect 100 soccer balls from the community so that he can give them away to young cancer patients on the one-year anniversary of his own diagnosis, May 18.
Sperreng Middle School is also hosting a blood drive in Wil’s honor, from 3-7 p.m. May 2 in the Sperreng cafeteria. View the flier below to make an appointment and participate.