Brody attends the Burton US Open

At only eighteen months old, Brody was diagnosed with Leukemia.  His journey through treatments was tough, but Brody proved to be tougher. In fact, he even continued to play on his soccer team during his chemo treatments and was the leading scorer despite having a port. Having never lost his sense of adventure, he decided his greatest wish would be to snowboard in Colorado. Brody told us, if his wish was granted it would be like eating 100 cookies in the same day. Brody and his family recently returned from his wish trip to Colorado and after hearing about from his mother we can say that comparison is entirely accurate. Upon arrival, the family dropped off their luggage and headed into Vail Village. Brian Thomas, the manager at the Burton Store supplied the entire family with snowboarding gear to use during their stay. Brian also presented Brody with a Burton snowboard that Brody could use to collect signatures from the US Open riders. Brody was grinning from ear to ear and the rest of the family was teary-eyed and full of joy.  After heading back to their hotel, he was so excited for the rest of the trip that he slept in his snowboarding helmet the very first night. During the next few days of his trip, Brody and his brother Jack took snowboard lessons and even got to meet US Olympians, Anna Gasser, Mark McMorris, and Kelly Clark. Kelly brought one of her Olympic medals and allowed the boys to hold it. She also gave both boys a copy of her book and wrote a personalized special message in each of them.  In addition to telling us all about the trip, Brody’s mother said

“It was epic! We made new friends, enjoyed time together as a family and reflected on just how far we’ve come and how fortunate we are to have each other. We are so thankful for the generosity of Children’s Wish International, Burton, Vail Mountain, and the Vail Marriott, to which this experience would not have been possible. It was priceless to have Brody’s wish fulfilled beyond his expectations, and for us as parents we are forever grateful. It was an experience of a lifetime. Thank you for your generosity and your compassion to help make Brody’s dream a reality.”