A wish come true

It was one month before her 16th birthday. Her summer days were growing longer, as typical teenage anxieties about the re-opening of school in the coming Fall began to set in. It had been one month following her last chemotherapy treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus with nephritis, and in no time, Ann Margaret’s routine daily walks to the neighborhood library for homework and Internet research would soon resume.

She had met with MAWF of Guam Board Director and Wish Volunteers Linda Leon Guerrero and CNMI First Lady Sophie Tenorio earlier this summer and told them about her long walks to the library so that she could complete her school research and daily homework. Both Linda and First Lady Sophie had asked, “If you could have one wish, Ann Margaret, what would that be?”

Smiling, Ann Margaret cheerfully replied, “I’d like my very own home computer system, so I can get right onto the Internet and do my homework without walking to the neighborhood library every day. If only the world wasn’t so complicated,” Ann Margaret sighed, “then I could get all this school work out of my way.”

Born on Sep. 22, 1984, Ann Margaret had lived a simple life with her mother Annabelle Tenorio. Together, they jointly explored the possibility of purchasing a home computer, but as life would dictate, having her very own home computer was just not possible, given their limited resources and Ann Margaret’s expensive medical treatments.

On Aug. 25, 2000, thanks to the generosity of UAW-GM sponsors and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ann Margaret received her long awaited wish. Only days from the opening of school, she received her own home computer system. Complete with a working table and other furniture, gift certificates for computer software of her choice, a year of free Internet service and a power backup system, her home library and computer system was now a wish come true! A thing of the past were Ann Margaret’s daily journeys to the neighborhood library in Saipan’s warm climate and piercing sun. Now, at any given moment, she would have virtually unlimited access to the E-world on her very own home computer system.

“To UAW-GM and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, thank you for bringing the world into my home through my very own home computer system. Thank you for making my wish come true,” said Ann Margaret.