Doreen Brennan of Taftville remembers when her 14-year-old son was so sick that he weighed 80 pounds.
“He came into my room one day, and you have to realize, he was hooked up (to an intravenous line) 17 hours a day,” she said. “He told me, ‘I’m really sick and tired of being sick every day.’ … And Make-A-Wish allowed me to say, ‘Hang on. Because in three weeks, we’re going away.’” Brennan and her family were among those attending the Ocean Beach Park Benefit Volleyball Tournament on Sunday to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Connecticut. Travis Brennan, now 20, got his wish in 2003. His dream was to someday see all 30 baseball stadiums, and Make-A-Wish sent the family to three stadiums on the West Coast. Travis Brennan has an inoperable brain tumor, and was treated for a year and a half with chemotherapy that made him chronically sick to his stomach, his mother said. He is doing better, and played in Sunday’s tournament, among 24 teams competing, including groups from Norwich, Preston and New London. Event organizers hoped to raise $11,000. Tom Bambria, a volunteer and organizer of the event, said it started as a benefit for a co-worker diagnosed with cancer in his office at the Office of Development and Planning for New London. Julie Greene worked as a temporary employee and had no health insurance, so her co-workers organized a volleyball fundraiser and collected $3,500. The following year, Ocean Beach asked Bambria if he’d hold a tournament again for Make-A-Wish. He’s been doing it ever since.
Kim Smith, director of external affairs for Make-A-Wish in Connecticut, said the foundation granted 143 wishes last year. Each wish costs an average of $8,500.