Four thousand eight hundred.
That’s how many wishes Make-A-Wish Connecticut has granted for critically ill children since the chapter opened in 1986. The last 40 years of wish-granting have made some incredible moments happen for kids and teens across Connecticut, and so we at Westport Lifestyle thought that this milestone anniversary was one to celebrate in our pages. We are taking a look back at some of the incredible dreams the Make-A-Wish team has brought to life over the last four decades. Here’s to 40 more amazing years.
Early Wishes
Michael Vigeant was one of Make-A-Wish Connecticut’s very first Wish recipients, back in 1988. At 14 years old and in remission from cancer, Michael and his mom received a trip to Disney World. As Michael tells it, there’s a good reason Disney trips have become so closely associated with the Make-A-Wish Foundation: back when Michael was sick, that was the default wish. “One of my nurses called and said, ‘There’s this group from your town that raised some money, and they want it to go to a local kid. The organization is called Make-A-Wish, and they want to send you and your family to Disney,’” Michael tells Westport Lifestyle. “Everything was covered. Everything was taken care of. I remember being treated amazingly well.” The experience had a profound impact on him. “The wish is simply the vehicle,” Michael says. “The emotional connection, the feeling of relief and support, the chance to be the star of the show—to me, that’s really the gift of the organization.”
Michael stayed connected with Make-A-Wish Connecticut and joined the board in the mid-2010s. (He was the first Wish recipient to serve in a board role.) “I got to be there when they granted the 100,000th Disney wish,” he says. “It was a 12-year-old boy. I walked up to the family to introduce myself, and the mom just broke down in tears. I asked her, ‘Did I say something wrong?’ And she said, ‘No. I just hadn’t thought about my son as an adult.’ To be a healthy adult and show these families that there’s a future for them 30 or 40 years down the line is just wonderful.”
The Sky’s The Limit
Since those early Disney days, the experiences have become more personalized. Jack Salafia, a 17-year-old with a serious blood disorder, found out he was receiving a Wish just before undergoing a bone marrow transplant. While enduring a grueling, nine-month-long period of isolation due to immunosuppression during his recovery, Jack began brainstorming what his Wish would be. “It gave him a spark during some very long, boring days,” his mother, Lesley, tells Westport Lifestyle. Jack ultimately chose meeting the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team, “through daydreams of rejoining his own soccer team on the pitch,” says Lesley. “It gave me something to look forward to, to get through treatment,” says Jack. In classic Make-A-Wish fashion, Jack didn’t just meet the team. He got to step onto the field to deliver the official match ball, and when he toured the locker room, he found his own personalized kit with a jersey, sneakers, and team backpack.
This kind of above-and-beyond Wish granting has become a hallmark of the organization at 40. Evie Herman was living in N.Y.C. during her leukemia treatment, and originally corresponded with the Make-A-Wish team in New York. Years later, when her family moved to Westport, she got a call from the Make-A-Wish Connecticut team. “They reached out to us and said, ‘oh, you never got your wish.’” In the years that passed, Evie’s wish evolved: at 15, she dreamed of becoming a pediatric oncologist. “I had a lot of time to reflect on the Wish, and how I could use this opportunity to give back,” Evie tells Westport Lifestyle. “I thought: why not use this experience to step into the place of my doctors—who I’ve been so inspired by—and bring a little hope to some of the patients?” Over her four-day-long Wish, Evie shadowed doctors at Connecticut Children’s Hospital and Jackson Laboratory. “Those four days really cemented my desire to go into medicine and become an oncologist,” says Evie, who is now a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and pursuing a path toward an MD/PhD. “I was able to live out my dream of helping other kids affected by cancer and shadow amazing doctors like the ones who treated me.”
Celebrating Longevity
As 2026 comes to a close, Make-A-Wish has taken opportunities to celebrate its four decades of impact throughout the year. In March, the annual Taste of Wishes event brought star chefs together with Wish kids in the kitchen. In May, the “Once Upon a Wish” gala celebrated the powerful stories of Wish granting at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, and was attended by Wish recipients from each decade of operation. And in July, the organization hosted a Wish Family Reunion on their campus, where they brought back 167 Wish recipients—nearly 600 people in total, including family members—for a summer festival. “We tracked down as many of them as we could find,” explains Kris Moran, the director of marketing and communications for Make-A-Wish Connecticut. “It was a big task, but so amazing.”
Almost every person who has come into contact with Make-A-Wish is inspired to further its mission. “I’d like to donate my time when I’m able, and maybe even be a Wish Maker for others,” says Jack. His parents, Lesley and Brett, have the same vision. “Brett and I always plan to be supporters and donate our time, talent, and treasure to the organization. Make-A-Wish gave Jack a light at the end of the tunnel, and we want to pay it forward,” Lesley says.
More than anything, it’s a joy to see what Make-A-Wish will do next. “No matter how impossible you may think it is, if it’s a dream of yours, or it will bring a suffering child some joy, the Make-A-Wish team will put in everything they have to make it happen,” says Evie. “And somehow, they’ll bring it to even greater heights than you ever imagined.”
To support Make-A-Wish Connecticut, visitwish.org/ct
“The wish is simply the vehicle,” says Michael Vigeant, one of Make-A-Wish Connecticut's first Wish recipients. “The emotional connection, the feeling of relief and support, the chance to be the star of the show—to me, that’s really the gift of the organization.”