Teen uses Make-A-Wish to launch toy drive for pediatric patients
By Isabella Ledonne
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KSHB) — Black Friday is known as one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Many people spend the day going store to store to get all their holiday shopping done. For one young man from Olathe, he used Black Friday to share his wish with others.
Families around the metro are getting ready to create their own holiday magic. 18-year-old Jack Punswick is going on his own shopping spree for kids fighting health battles at Children’s Mercy.
“We’re going to get clothes, blankets, toys,” Punswick said. “We’re talking [anything] for babies to 18-year-olds.”
Last Christmas looked different for Punswick. Blinking lights were replaced by blinking monitors as Punswick fought his own battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“I had chemotherapy on Halloween, I had chemotherapy the day before Thanksgiving last year, and I had chemotherapy the day after Christmas,” Punswick said. “It was brutal, to say the least.”
Despite the harsh surgeries and treatments Punswick endured his senior year, he found the magic moments.
“I was bald for Halloween and I dressed up as Gru from “Despicable Me,” Punswick laughed. “For Christmas, the [hospital] had decorations all around. That’s the thing that I just love the most.”
Now in remission, he’s using his once-in-a-lifetime wish to bring that magic for other Kansas City metro kids.
“No kid wants to be receiving chemotherapy on a holiday,” Punswick said. “So I thought, ‘What can I do? What can I do to help people?”‘ “So I’m going to go on a shopping spree.”
While most kids choose to go to Disney World or meet their favorite celebrity, Punswick launched a national toy drive with Make-A-Wish to donate gifts to kids at Children’s Mercy for the holidays.
“I had originally wanted to go to the Bahamas, like a nice trip off with my family,” Punswick said. “But then I just felt like I could do so much more. I just felt like I could do so much more with the wish.”
Brian Miller, vice president of marketing and communication for Make-A-Wish Missouri and Kansas, explained less than 10% of kids use their wish to give back to others.
“It’s so unique and refreshing, it truly does just warm your heart,” Miller said. “The more that we get, the more joy that Jack can spread and the more hope he can spread, the more smiles he can create.”
But the real holiday magic comes from the willingness of others to give back.
“Medicine can only treat a certain point,” Punswick said. “That’s where joy and hope come in. Joy and hope can propel you to the next step.”
In Jack’s case, it can even propel you beyond.
“For me, my biggest source of happiness is helping others, putting a smile on someone else’s face,” Punswick said. “That’s something that can’t be bought.”
Items bought off Jack’s Make-A-Wish wishlist from Amazon will be sent to Make-A-Wish headquarters in Chicago. The gifts will be delivered to Kansas City. You can learn more about monetary donations here.
The gifts will be delivered to pediatric patients throughout December.
This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.
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