Young golfer's fingers crossed that Ryder wish comes true
A 10-year-old Dublin boy suffering from cancer is hoping hundreds of people will walk one mile for charity today to help ensure his wish to meet the Ryder Cup team comes true.
Mad keen golfer Conor, from Kinseally, asked the Make-A-Wish foundation to fix it so he can mingle with Europe’s top 12 golf pros as they prepare to take on the might of America at the K Club in Kildare next September.
Conor, whose surname has been withheld, suffers from the debilitating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but after treatment last summer he is hoping to be well enough to stand beside stars like Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Darren Clarke.
“He’s a mad keen golfer. He goes golfing every weekend and sometimes goes with his dad,” a spokeswoman for the charity said.
“The family will go along with him, but it is subject to him being well enough after undergoing treatment.”
Golf appeared in another wish, with one confident young lad determined to play 18 holes against one of the world’s top professionals – on any course the pro chooses.
Moves are now under way to try to arrange the challenge match.
Other dreams the foundation hopes to make come true this year include taking a youngster to meet daredevil Australian snake hunter Steve Irwin, organising a trip to Los Angeles to meet the cast of teenage soap The OC and giving a boy Spiderman’s superhero powers for the day.
For every person who registers online to walk the mile, at www.walkingforwishes.org, washing up liquid makers Fairy will donate €1.50 to the charity. Organisers hope to raise €100,000.
Almost 25,000 people will take part in the walk across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Make-A-Wish Ireland has granted 80 wishes so far this year, including decking a young Mayo lad in full garda uniform for the day.
David Moran, 7, suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia but his simple wish was to go on the beat. He spent time with the garda dog handler unit and took a tour of the technical bureau to see how fingerprint and ballistics experts do their jobs.
The spokeswoman for Make-A-Wish said they try to fulfil the wishes as quickly as possible, but the commitments of stars and the health of children often determines events.
“Children might not want to go until their treatment is over, so there is only a certain amount you can do straight away,” she said.
But the spokeswoman said children and their families were thoroughly vetted before the wishes were granted.
“We send out volunteers to the family home and we have a wish game that we play that determines what they want. We have to be very careful that it’s their wish,” she said.
Any child aged between three and 18 suffering from a life-threatening illness can make a wish, and so long as doctors agree, organisers do all in their power to make it come true.
