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“A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.”
(John Wooden)

Our goal here at Happy Living is to raise $6,000 for Make-A-Wish this year: enough to grant the wish of one child with life-threatening medical conditions. To do it, we need your help. Each month during 2017, we will be presenting an inspiring video sharing the story of a ‘Wish Kid,’ in hopes that you’ll feel called to watch, share and give.

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Today’s video features eight-year-old Jack. It’s hard for me to imagine his parents’ heartbreak when Jack tested positive for spinal muscular atrophy shortly after birth, and only one month after his older sister, Eleanor, was diagnosed with the same disease.

Jack’s affinity for coaching didn’t show until he started school. His condition doesn’t allow him to play football, the sport he loves most, and so he started coaching his classmates during recess. His sister tells us about Jack’s wish and her face lights up: “Jack’s wish was to be a Carolina Panthers coach for a day!” When the Panthers learned the news, they were more than happy to oblige, and head coach, Ron Rivera, took Jack under his wing.

The smile on Jack’s mom and dad’s faces as they tell his wish story is only surpassed by the image of Jack, radiating pure joy as he met the coaching staff, signed his contract, and coached the team down on the field. “I was nervous at the first part,” he says, “but once we got out there, I was just thinking, ‘This is amazing!’ Coach Rivera made me feel like I was just another coach!”

It’s an uplifting sight to behold Coach Jack’s total delight. Help Jack spread the love by supporting the Make-a-Wish Foundation and helping bring wishes to life for other Wish Kids.

It’s my wish that you’ll… WATCH | SHARE | GIVE

Pay it forward.[1] Please give what you can, when you can. As you know, every little bit helps give Wish Kids like Jack the courage to fight on.

With love and gratitude,

 

 

 

Special thanks and gratitude to the @Panthers, Dave Gettleman, @RiverboatRonHC ‏‏for helping Jason’s dream come true!

[1] Pay it forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor.

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