{"id":191461,"date":"2015-02-10T04:00:36","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T18:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=191461"},"modified":"2015-02-10T04:00:36","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T18:00:36","slug":"make-wish-builds-playground-6-year-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/make-wish-builds-playground-6-year-old\/","title":{"rendered":"Make-A-Wish builds playground for 6-year-old"},"content":{"rendered":"

HAGATNA, Guam<\/strong> (AP)\u2014Six-year-old Joerome Aguon was all smiles yesterday as he played with his siblings and cousin on a new playground set erected in the front yard of his Dededo home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty excited,\u201d said Jesse Aguon, the boy\u2019s father. \u201cNow we don\u2019t have to go to the park anymore. We have one in our own yard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The playground was built through the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Guam, a group that helps grant wishes for young children and teens with life-threatening medical conditions.<\/p>\n

To an outsider, Joerome Aguon looks like any other young boy\u2014rambunctious and full of life. However, since he was born, he has struggled with liver issues.<\/p>\n

The 6-year-old has shown progress in the last year after receiving throat surgery in the Philippines, which keeps him from vomiting blood. The boy is still waiting for a liver transplant, but doctors recommend the transplant surgery not take place until he\u2019s older\u2014around age 15.<\/p>\n

Joerome Aguon and his family found out last year that he qualified for a wish through the Make-A-Wish organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kept asking him what he wanted, but it was mainly Spiderman things,\u201d the boy\u2019s mother, Leilani Toves, said. \u201cWe told him he could pick something bigger, and he said he wanted a playground.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 30, the red and blue playground Joerome Aguon had been eagerly awaiting to enjoy for months was finally unveiled by Make-A-Wish Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt represents Spiderman\u2014the color of it,\u201d Toves said. \u201cHe\u2019s really excited he got this. He likes the swing. When he saw [the playground], [he saw] there are different slides to climb onto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black Construction handled the installation of the playground, and Macy\u2019s sponsored the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur donors came through in a big way, by covering the cost of the equipment and shipping,\u201d Make-A-Wish Board chair Mike Naholowaa said in a release. \u201cThe in-kind donation of construction services allowed us to save money toward other program expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Make-A-Wish Guam executive director Victor Camacho said a wish starts with a referral. Camacho said if anyone knows of a child with a serious illness, they can email or call the organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HAGATNA, Guam (AP)\u2014Six-year-old Joerome Aguon was all smiles yesterday as he played with his siblings…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1806,1862,1863,1864],"class_list":["post-191461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-hagatna","tag-jesse-aguon","tag-joerome-aguon","tag-mike-naholowaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}