Proving that one person's wish is another's nightmare, the Make-A-Wish Foundation partnered with Saputo Cheese USA's Frigo Cheese Heads to fulfill the football-fantasy wish of 17-year-old Daniel Leon, who wanted to leave the relative warmth of Los Angeles to meet the Green Bay Packers. In Wisconsin.

Daniel is an avid sports fan and the only athlete in his family, but six months ago, his right arm was amputated and he is currently receiving chemotherapy to treat osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer.

"Both Daniel and his family's courage and ability to maintain such a positive attitude throughout a very difficult year, sets a great example for others, and will no doubt serve as an inspiration to the Green Bay Packers," said Steve Josen, Vice President of Marketing of Saputo Cheese USA.

Daniel was treated to a "pep rally" at the Grove as part of his send off last night. We are very happy for Daniel, and we're happier still to see that the Make-A-Wish Foundation thought to include a very warm (and huge) jacket for the boy. Bon Voyage.

Earlier:
Season of Wishes: Pinball Wizard's Wish Granted at the Grove
Season of Wishes: Come For The Love, Stay For The Cake
Season of Wishes: American In Paris.
Season of Wishes: Mark Wallengren To Host Make-A-Wish Event At The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Brings Nicest Child On The Planet To The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Foundation Sends Lil' Princess Off To Disney World
Make-A-Wish Foundation Kicks Off Season Of Wishes

We feel pretty whiny blaming a cold for the delay of a post about a boy in a wheelchair. Particularly a boy as inspiring and sweet as Ryan Post -- but there you have it.

Last week, while we were coming down with the sniffles, Ryan, 11, was realizing his wish for a wheelchair-adaptive Spider-Man pinball machine.

Kathy Yeung and Jack Nelson of leading LA internet company Oversee.net helped grant the wish on Dec. 11 at The Grove, with more than 50 Oversee.net employees to celebrate the company's sponsorship of Ryan's wish as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation's holiday campaign.

According to the press release:

Ryan, a 5th grader from West Palmdale who turned 11 on Dec. 2, was born with arthrogryposis and severe scoliosis, making it difficult for him to move his joints and compromising his respiratory function. Ryan has undergone over 25 surgeries since birth including his most recent spinal fusion surgery in early October 2007. Just prior to his most recent hospital stay, his mother decided to contact the Make-A-Wish Foundation, knowing that Ryan would wish for the adaptive pinball machine he discovered at an Abilities Expo in June 2007. The machine plugs into his wheelchair, enabling him to play using the micro-switches on his chair, which he did for hours when he first laid eyes on the machine at the Expo.

We wish we could have been there to enjoy the night with Ryan, but we trust that the friends (including that giant red arachnid pictured behind Ryan) were more than enough good company. Stay tuned later today to hear about the Make-A-Wish Foundation's next wish-granting.

Earlier:
Season of Wishes: Come For The Love, Stay For The Cake
Season of Wishes: American In Paris.
Season of Wishes: Mark Wallengren To Host Make-A-Wish Event At The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Brings Nicest Child On The Planet To The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Foundation Sends Lil' Princess Off To Disney World
Make-A-Wish Foundation Kicks Off Season Of Wishes

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is taking over the Grove again this evening, granting children their wishes and ensuring that there is not a dry eye at the mall.

6-year-old Klarissa Ramos, of Galveston, TX; Spirit Cosey, 9, of Minneapolis, and 10-year-old Tykazja "Ty" McCoy, of Ft. Lauderdale have all been flown in to L.A. to meet their music idols, The Cheetah Girls. After a little pomp, circumstance and cake (which anyone is welcome to, by the way). The kids, who are battling leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis and sickle cell anemia, respectively, will be whisked away for a private dinner with the Disney music stars, Adrienne Bailon, Sabrina Bryan and Kiely Williams.

So if you're at the Grove at 5:45 p.m. today, stop by the Christmas tree and watch our pal Mark Wallengren from KOST (103.5 FM) introduce the kids to their dinner dates. Why not? The event is free -- and so is the cake. And if seeing all this giving and loving and singing doesn't restore your faith in man, we'll give you your money back.

Earlier:
Season of Wishes: American In Paris.
Season of Wishes: Mark Wallengren To Host Make-A-Wish Event At The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Brings Nicest Child On The Planet To The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Foundation Sends Lil' Princess Off To Disney World
Make-A-Wish Foundation Kicks Off Season Of Wishes

The paparazzi swarmed a cute young thing as she got gussied up at Michael Stars at the The Grove last night, but the teen at the center of attention didn't seem much to mind.

17-year-old Sarah Caulkin, a cystic fibrosis patient, was the latest child to be granted a wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. And Sarah wasn't messing around when she threw her penny in the well; the girl and her parents are headed to Paris.

Michael Stars founder Michael Cohen helped the foundation fulfill Sarah's wish to travel to the fashion capital of the world -- and helped deck her out in cute clothes for her trip.

Bon Voyage, Sarah!

Earlier:
Season Of Wishes: Mark Wallengren To Host Make-A-Wish Event At The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Brings Nicest Child On The Planet To The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Foundation Sends Lil' Princess Off To Disney World
Make-A-Wish Foundation Kicks Off Season Of Wishes

KOST FM (103.5)'s morning show host, Mark Wallengren will host the Make-A-Wish Foundation's first Weekly Wish Night at 5:30 p.m. today at the Grove.

The deeper-voiced half of the Mark and Kim Show will help present 9-year-old leukemia patient Jorge Arranga, of Gardena, with his wish to spend Christmas with his mother and extended family in Guadalajara, Mexico. After the one-week visit, Jorge will return to L.A. to continue his chemotherapy treatments.

Wallengren tells FBLA he believes the media have a responsibility to get behind charitable organizations.

"I happen to work for a corporation that doesn't do a matching dollar for charity," says Wallengren, who works for Clear Channel. "There are other corporations that are good at it, but I wish corporate America would be more generous with employees' choices for charitable work."

If that were the case, Clear Channel would be out a lot of money. Wallengren is involved in organizations related to ALS (his brother died of it), Down's Syndrome (his neighbor's daughter has it), diabetes (his sister is battling it) and other diseases that have hit close to home.

"People get caught up in this mindset of, 'I can't do anything about it. It's too big.' Well, think locally," he says. "That will help the picture globally."

Earlier:
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Brings Nicest Child On The Planet To The Grove
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Foundation Sends Lil' Princess Off To Disney World
Make-A-Wish Foundation Kicks Off Season Of Wishes

Want to feel petty and small? Read on:

The Make-A-Wish Foundation, the organization that makes sick kids each and every dream come true granted the wish of a child who wants to give other kids a bunch of toys.

After prolonged hospital stays (due to a rare condition that causes tumors to grow throughout her body) 12-year-old Madison Smith said her wish was to provide toys for all the kids at Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA this Christmas.

Madison saw her wish come true at The Grove's Christmas tree lighting spectacular last night, when a band of Santa's elves delivered a bag full of toys headed for the hospital. Also on stage were The Cheetah Girls, Goo Goo Dolls, Mannheim Steamroller, Sean Kingston and Emmy Rossum.

Little Madison is pictured here with Lauren Conrad, who, we're guessing, is rethinking her Christmas wish list now.

Earlier:
Season of Wishes: Make-A-Wish Foundation Sends Lil' Princess Off To Disney World
Make-A-Wish Foundation Kicks Off Season Of Wishes

The fairy godmothers at Make-A-Wish Foundation are sending 6-year-old Kiara Williams off to Disney World to celebrate her apparent victory against leukemia.

Kiara, who has a thing for Cinderella, was diagnosed when she was three and treated for two years at Long Beach Miller's Children's Hospital. Now that she's feeling better, Disney has provided her with a dress, slippers and tiara and let her walk the red carpet at the premiere of Enchanted at the El Capitan Theater today.

Tomorrow, she, her twin sister, Kayla, 11-year-old brother, Brandon, and their parents will be whisked away for a week-stay at Disney World in Orlando.

Kiara tells FBLA exclusively (well, OK, we think she told this to Fox 11 News, too, but whatever) that she is most excited to "meet Minnie Mouse and the princesses -- especially Cinderella."

Kiara has never been to Disneyland, so this trip to Orlando should be an especially nice treat, said Kiara's mom, Pumi Williams.

"It's a nice end to all of this," she said.

Earlier:
Make-A-Wish Foundation Kicks Off Season of Wishes

*Photo by the AP

Fishbowl LA is partnering with the Make-A-Wish Foundation this year (See? We're not all snark and bad manners). This puts us in a small, elite group of media sponsors:

KTTV-TV (FOX 11 LA), KSCI-TV (LA18), KOST-FM (103.5), Showtime Networks Inc., Multivu, PR Newswire, Cision, Los Angeles Magazine, Oversee.net, The Walt Disney Company

OK. Maybe not so small and elite. Still, we will be proudly reporting the wishes granted this holiday season -- including one on Nov. 17 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, where Disney will grant one child his or her wish to visit Walt Disney World in Orlando.

The Season of Wishes kicked off on Friday at The Grove, featuring the tales of various wish children and an appearance by Kiely Williams of The Cheetah Girls.

For those of you who are just visiting from Mars, Make-A-Wish grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Not even we can find snark in that. To wit:

continued...