can anyone help this little boy!!!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

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I have been a staunch support of Make A Wish since my 16 year old daughter was

diagnosed with AML leukemia in 1994. lost her earthly battle with this

dreaded disease on 8/13/94 after a valiant 7 month battle with this monster.

But that is all changing before my eyes. We have written to you, the Richmond

Chapter - in fact we have written, and called so many people we are dumbstruck

that there is no concern one little boy.

You may recall our request regarding Maxie Lagourney of Amelia, Virginia. If

not, here is a link to his website:

http://www.caringbridge.org/va/maxie/index.htm

Long story short, the Richmond chapter gave Maxie a puppy in January. When we

contacted them about his true wish - to meet Tom Hanks we were told bluntly he

had already received his wish. How about we refund you the cost of that stupid

dog and you put some TIME AND ENERGY into making his real wish come true before

it is too late. Hey I will even pay for the phone call to Tom Hanks!!! If I

knew how to reach him I wouldn't be wasting my time with you.

The following are copies of just one of the emails my group members and I

received from MAW. I wish I had saved the cold and unresponsive one from

Ricmond:

tanya@...

Hi Judy. Thank you for your e-mail. Due to the fact that Maxie has received a

wish from the VA chapter he is not eligible for a second wish. Our policies

state that each qualifying child may only receive one wish. This is so we can

grant wishes for each eligible child.

I suggest you checking on line to see if you can contact Tom Hanks.

Well duh!!!!! Isn't that just a piece of cake.

Now two of our replies to MAW:

Dear ,

You sent an e-mail reply to our moderator of catchanangelgriefsupport as

follows:

Hi Judy. Thank you for your e-mail. Due to the fact that Maxie has received a

wish from the VA chapter he is not eligible for a second wish. Our policies

state that each qualifying child may only receive one wish. This is so we can

grant wishes for each eligible child.

I suggest you checking on line to see if you can contact Tom Hanks.

To this I say, I'm sorry MAW feels the way they do, and to hell with the

policies. We have tried to contact Tom Hanks, online, as you stated, to no

avail! I absolutely refuse to believe that MAW can not contact Tom Hanks and ask

him to call this little boy!!!

So What!!! He got a puppy!! A lot of good that will do him and the pup when he

dies. Comfort for him til his death? Perhaps! But all he wants to do is talk to

Tom Hanks. I fail to understand why it is such a problem for the organization.

You say you make wishes come true, and only one wish per child. I want to know

WHY? It's not costing you anything to do this for Maxie.

Please, won't you reconsider? Before it's too late. Our group has tried everyone

we can think of. Now we're leaving things in God's hands, but maybe you could

help God out alittle too?

Sincerely,

Raye Brittain

catchanangelgriefsupport

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sturm

Director of Wish Coordination

Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Middle TN

209 10th Avenue South, Suite 527

Nashville, TN 37203

RE: Maxie Lee Lagourney, Almedia, Virginia

Dear Ms. Sturm:

I was the disheartening recipient of a letter you wrote in reply to Mrs.

Judy Crawford's request for Maxie Lee Lagourney. As I'm sure you will remember,

Maxie has Rhabdomyosarcoma and is in the last stages of his illness. MakeAWish

granted him a wish of a puppy in January.

I am a bit in bewilderment as to how MakeAWish decides to grant wishes to

children. If I were on the Board, I would certainly recognize that an animal

would only be more work for the parents/grandparents involved and that if the

child was terminal (as you must have been aware Maxie was), that giving him a

puppy certainly was not in the best interest of anyone concerned.

I read so much about MakeAWish and have donated to your organization. I

read about trips to Disneyworld, Washington, just about every place. I gather

it's very easy to hire a trip coordinator and just pay for expenses, but when it

comes down to doing some REAL work, like trying to contact Tom Hanks for a

little boy who will eternally be 11 years old, it's just too much involvement,

am I correct?

Also, I would like to use the quote you so interestingly used in your e-mail

to Mrs. Crawford:

We grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions to

enrich the

human experience with hope, strength, and joy.

You should really re-phrase your quaint little ending saying, WE GRANT ONLY

ONE WISH TO A CHILD. OUR POLICY STATES THAT EACH QUALIFYING CHILD MAY ONLY

RECIEVE ON WISH.

Tell me, Ms. Sturm, in what way are you giving Maxie Lee Lagourney any

hope, strength or joy? He cannot enjoy his puppy while in the hospital, and

even when he gets hope, he will be too weak to play with the dog.

I don't intend to let this end here. The National Chapter will be hearing

from our support group. You are only one person in a huge organization.

When Maxie does pass away, I'll be sure to let you know. Perhaps then you

will take your position as " Director of Wish Coordination " - what a farce, a

little more seriously.

LaMountain

Affiliate of : CatchAnAngelgriefsupportgroup

SharetheLove.org

MakeAChildSmile

Pray4Kids.com

Heaven's Angels

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been so proud of my daughter who recently became a local MAW volunteer,

but I am beginning to see much has changed since died. To say I am

disappointed in MAW is a polite understatement. And we are all heartbroken.

Let me clarify something. We are NOT asking you to fly Maxie to meet Tom Hanks

or asking Tom Hanks go to Virginia. We don't believe Maxie could travel in his

current condition. We are asking for ONE 5 MINUTE PHONE CALL from Tom Hanks.

Is that so unreasonable? And I will pay for the damn phone calls!!!

One of our members sent the following letter to another organization:

Subject: please help

Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 23:49:05 -0500

To: fondwish@...

Hello, my name is LaMountain - I live in Selkirk, NY and I am with an

internet group called Catchanangelgriefsupport

Judy, me, and other members of the group are also involved in a group called

ShareTheLove.org, in which we support terminally ill children and their families

through e-mail and occasionally gifts.

There is a little boy in Almedia, Virginia named Maxie Lee Lagourney. I have

attached his website. Maxie's only birthday wish - he turns 11 on April 3 - is

to meet Tom Hanks. MakeAWish will NOT help us. They gave him a puppy. This is

Maxie's last birthday. Even if he can't MEET Tom personally, I know a phone

call from Tom would make his birthday wishes come true.

Please consider helping us out. There are about 20 people out here trying to

contact CBS, NBC, Letterman, Tom Hanks, Sharon Osbourne, People.Com, PBS

stations, you name it, we've tried it. We are at a standstill and Maxie does

not have long to stay here.

You can contact our group at:

catchanangelgriefsupport

or me at: AngelGrammaL@... 518-7767-9411

or you can contact Maxie's grandmother directly from information on his website:

http://www.caringbridge.org/va/maxie/

Please help us make this little guy's wish come true. God bless, , Judy,

Raye, Ginger, Kris, Carol and all the other folks at catchanangel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are hundreds of parents involved in Caring Bridge. While our numbers are

small in Catch An Angel we are growing and our members are strong people, active

in their communities, churches and other on line groups. We have spent

countless hours contacting every radio and TV station we can find, trying to

write Tom Hanks (mail is returned) email him and his agents (email addy's

invalid), - get the picture? We have written to every movie studio and a long

list of celebrities. We have tried to accomplish what seems to be the

impossible for one small boy we have never met. Shouldn't we expect the same

urgency from you?

We intend to make certain EVERYONE knows of the way MAW has handled Maxie's

small request. Maxie may never get his wish. If any one of us had the money we

would fly to California and risk imprisonment to talk to Mr. Hanks in person.

But I assure you of this - Maxie may never get his wish. He may lose his

earthly battle before we can cut through the callous, arrogant and uncaring

attitudes of so many. But even if we lose Maxie, this fight is NOT over. We

will continue to spread the message of this experience. We will continue to

tell the world of one little boy's final wish and we will do everything in our

power to make certain the world does not forget.

Sincerely,

Judy Crawford

Cookeville TN