This Story of little Boy's Last Wish will make you cry

This is one on the best stories I have ever read. It will make you sad, bring tears to your eyes but it will also restore your faith in humanity.

This little boy became the very first recipient of the now famous Make-A-Wish Foundation. The 26-year-old mother stared down at her son who was dying of terminal leukemia. Although her heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent she wanted her son to grow up and fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible. Leukemia (cancer of the blood) would see to that.

But she still wanted her son's dreams to come true. She took her son's hand and asked, "Bopsy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?"

"Mommy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up." Mom smiled back and said, "Let's see if we can make your wish come true."

Later that day she went to her local fire department in Phoenix, Arizona, where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Phoenix. She explained her son's final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her six-year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine.

Fireman Bob said, "Look, we can do better than that. If you'll have your son ready at seven o'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him an honorary fireman for the whole day. 

He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! "And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat -- not a toy one -- with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots. They're all manufactured right here in Phoenix, so we can get them fast."

Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Bopsy, dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Bopsy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven.

There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Bopsy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire engines, the paramedic's van, and even the fire chief's car. He was also videotaped for the local news program.

Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Bopsy that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.

Yet finally, one night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically. The head nurse began to call the family members to the hospital. Then she remembered the day Bopsy had spent as a fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Bopsy as he made his transition.

The chief replied, "We can do better than that. We'll be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire? It's just the fire department coming to see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room?"

About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital, extended its ladder up to Bopsy's third-floor open window and five firefighters climbed up the ladder to Bopsy's room. With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they loved him. In one touching moment, Bopsy looked up at the fire chief and said, "Chief, am I really a fireman now?" "Yes, Bopsy, you are a fireman now," the chief said. With those words, Bopsy smiled and closed his eyes one last time. He passed away the next morning.

This story made me believe that even though situations can take life away from us but not our humanity.

But this story also made me reflect on our lives and realize a sad thing - we take so many efforts to avoid the pain that we actually have stopped enjoying our life.

For example - Hospitals just focuses on solving the pain points but not on happiness – why shouldn’t a standup comedian do a show for patients, why not actor performs plays and why not trainers do some engaging activity with them.

Life and death, pain and happiness are a part of one stick. Therefore you need to accept the fact that there will be dark days in our life. But that should not avoid you from enjoying our life. Because every time you just focus on recovering from a difficult situation - physical or mental, it permanently shifts your mental power to avoiding pain and not enjoying happiness.

For example - If you having a car accident, you will be focused more on driving carefully and not on enjoying the driving. Each time you get hurt in a relationship, you stop being less open. Yes, it protects you more from pain in future but at the expense of happiness.

Therefore in future whenever you see someone taking too many efforts to avoid some pain, help him/her to do something that makes them happy too - like Make a Wish Foundation is doing. Please do visit their site and see how you can support them.

"You have the power to create heaven or hell, it's just about your choice."- Rupak Shah

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Story Source

From the book Chicken Soup for the Soul.