Wish comes true for five-year-old

PUNE, Jan 29: The new toy fascinates five-year-old Sumanto Kundu. Especially, since it is a spanking new steel grey car. A nattily dresse...

PUNE, Jan 29: The new toy fascinates five-year-old Sumanto Kundu. Especially, since it is a spanking new steel grey car. A nattily dressed Sumanto gets behind the wheel full of glee. It is the beginning of a new life for him. The frail child was the fiftieth recipient of a gift from Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maharashtra in a function organised at Konark Estate, opposite Poona Club, today.

Sumanto is a cancer patient. He has not yet made up his mind about whether he would like to be a doctor or a chauffeur when he grows up — the new toy car adding to his confusion — has been given a clear certificate by Pune Command Hospital where he was undergoing treatment. Sumanto, who zipped around in the toy car, honking merrily at his parents, is on his way back to Rajasthan with his father, who is serving with the Army Medical Corps.

The gift-giving session marked the fulfilment of 50 wishes by the foundation that will be celebrating Global Wish Day world-wide on April 29. “The foundation has fulfilled the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses from Southern Command, Inlaks Budhrani, KEM and Sassoon,” said Anil Bora of Make-A-Wish.

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The main objective of the foundation is to increase the opportunity to realise the wish of children between 3 to 18 years of age with an illness that is life-threatening. MAWF of Maharashtra covers the entire State except Mumbai.

Most of the demands received by the foundation so far have been for toys. "Most of the children we have come in contact with are very young and visits from film stars and other personalities don’t interest them so much,” said Subhash Tambe. However, a trip to Essel World is planned for one child while another patient at Inlaks Hospital, who had never worn gold jewellery before, belonging to the economically weaker section, was given a gold chain with an `Om’ pendant. “She believed that the pendant would give her the strength to fight the disease and there is a remarkable change in her desire to get well after the chain was given to her,” says Tambe.

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