Ill boy gets wish, plays in dirt

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For some reason I found this really touching... I probably relate since I remember when I was 15 I had colon cancer, and spent several months in the hospital. There was a huge park outside my window, and they were having a rock concert on a beautiful spring day. I was so depressed, but then my mom called some of my friends, and got the ok for me to go since they would be with me, and could help me back to the hospital if I got to tired or started hurting. Ill boy gets wish, plays in dirt

Associated Press

Jan. 28, 2002 08:16:00

PALO ALTO, Calif. - At age 8, Mario Pagan might have asked for a trip to Disneyland or a visit from a professional athletes to get his mind off cancer.

Instead, he simply wanted to play in the dirt just outside his Palo Alto hospital window.

Mario got his wish in a big way Friday when he helped construction workers at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital carve out a foundation for a new building.

Mario's grandmother and guardian, Debbie Allen, persuaded the hospital and builders to let the sick boy strap on a hard hat and go to work on the new cancer treatment center due for completion in 2003.

"I haven't seen this smile for a long, long time," Allen said of Mario.

The boy's mother, Monika Pagan, came from her home in Idaho to watch him climb on a worker's lap and help navigate the heavy machinery through mounds of dirt.

Mario suffers from desmoplastic cancer which fills his stomach with tumors. Mario's grandmother said he hasn't responded to chemotherapy.

After trying his hand at the dump truck and bulldozer Mario accepted a few souvenirs from the crew.

Mario told his grandmother of his day in the dirt, "It was fun. I was helping."

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Answers

Cool find! Yes, we hear about all the wishes to go to WDW and such. This is very touching.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

For those with pure hearts, the simple things make them the happiest!

I'm so glad that this boys dream came true. May he kick the cancer.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002


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