ESTEVAN — Estevan's Liam McIntyre's start to life wasn't easy, as he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis shortly after he was born.
He learned early how to fight and live with the disease, while also helping and inspiring people around him.
He's been brave and strong in his journey, leading others, and a few years ago his CF support team decided they should do something special for Liam, so they applied to have his wish granted through the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
"We've been planning for his Make-a-Wish since before COVID," shared Liam's mother, Kasey McIntyre, who was part of his Make-a-Wish journey along with his father Ken and sister Abigail.
She noted the Make-a-Wish Foundation is for children that have critical, but not necessarily terminal illnesses. It allowed Liam's wish to qualify for the program, which covers the expenses of kids' wishes coming true.
Liam's initial wish was to go to a university to see how they ran computer programming, as he wanted to be a video game designer one day. But as time passed, he decided he probably would go to a college for computer programming and changed his wish.
He chose to go to Six Flags Over Georgia, which is a 290-acre theme park located in Mableton, and to a waterpark. Make-a-Wish Canada and Make-a-Wish Georgia collaborated to make this happen, Kasey noted.
Even though the family learned Liam's new wish was granted about a year ago, they kept it a secret as much as they could until the reveal party right before the trip.
"It was pretty exciting for me. It happened as a surprise party at the Tower," shared Liam, who thought he was coming for his grandma's birthday.
Once the surprise was revealed, the family headed out on a week's journey in Georgia.
"I got to go to Six Flags and Margaritaville," Liam shared, adding that he ended up liking the water park and its slides the best. Abigail said that Margaritaville was her favourite part of the trip as well.
"And there were other things to do in the city," Kasey added. "They got us into their aquarium, and if anybody ever goes I would 100 per cent recommend going to the aquarium, it's just a wonderful family day."
The foundation covered all expenses associated with the trip and planned three days of activities, leaving the other days open for the family to enjoy Georgia at their own pace.
"We had a lot of fun, good memories were done. It's hard to believe we're back home and back to normal things. But it was really pretty," Kasey said.
"Just real, real good time together."
