Cuyahoga Falls — Disney World is touted as “the place where dreams come true.” One local father hopes a visit there will shift his family’s focus from doctors and diagnoses to memory-making fun.
Bill Coughlin, 33, has stage four metastatic colon cancer. His wife, Sarah, says a customer at work told her about the Dream Foundation, a nonprofit company based in California which grants the wishes of adults facing life-threatening illnesses.
“We’re close and she knows the battle we’ve been going through since Bill was diagnosed.” Sarah says. “Life is an emotional roller coaster around here. I told her, ‘I wish there was something he could have to look forward to when he goes for treatment.’ I’m trying so hard to keep his spirits up.” Her friend urged her to apply for a Dream Foundation wish.
Messages of compassion presented through colorful floral bouquets and bright smiles are among the many ways that a distinctive Dream Foundation program called Flower Empower lets locals know that the community cares.
Since 1994, a group of volunteers has gathered each Saturday at the downtown Santa Barbara Farmers Market, 232 Anacapa St., to skillfully prepare an average of 75 to 100 bouquets using donated flowers from local growers.
Everyone’s heard of Make-A-Wish Foundation, but I had never heard of the Dream Foundation, which makes dying wishes come true for adults 18 and older.
Then I met two women Thursday whose dreams were to come to Las Vegas, probably for the last time.
One was a mother of three who made a Las Vegas trip her dream so that she could see her children swim with the dolphins at The Mirage. Mindee Paulsen, 37, of Salt Lake City crafted a wish that would make her children happy.
Palm Desert — For Arne Ljunggren of Palm Desert, learning to play the piano was a dream that simply would not go away.
When he hit the jackpot in 1987 on slot machines in Las Vegas, he spent $2,500 of his winnings to buy a mellow-sounding, ivory-colored Kohler & Campbell upright piano. For the past 25 years, the piano sat in his living room where Ljunggren poked at the keys.
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — The Coughlin Family needed a break from reality, and thanks to the Dream Foundation, they are headed to Disney World in Florida.
Bill Coughlin and wife Sarah had always planned to take their daughters Riley, 9, and Payton, 7, to Disney World, but wanted to do it at a time when they were old enough to appreciate and enjoy it.
But when Bill Coughlin was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in November, that time was now.