West Hartford Resident Receives Jet Ski from Make-A-Wish

Make-A-Wish has granted the wish of a college student from West Hartford, recently presenting him with a brand new Jet Ski.

Submitted

Make-A-Wish Connecticut recently granted 19-year-old John Doar’s wish to have a Jet Ski.

John is a 19-year-old college student battling cancer. When he is not in the hospital or receiving treatments, John can be found outside with family and friends. Football, bike rides and swimming are all frequent past times but at the top of this list of his favorites are water sports. John loves anything involving water and has ridden Jet Skis since he was very young.

Jet Skis have not only been a fun way to spend a summer day for John, but it was also actually after a jet skiing accident several years ago that John discovered he had cancer in the first place. Rather than look at the event as a tragedy, he attributes the accident to saving his life.

When John returned home from school in Texas, he was surprised with his Jet Ski at Bertera Subaru in Hartford. Not only did Bertera Subaru raise more than $60,000 during their 2020 Share the Love event, adopt John’s wish, and host John’s wish reveal with their staff and leadership present, but coincidentally, John purchased his first car at Bertera Subaru during a Share The Love event and chose to donate to Make-A-Wish Connecticut as their charity! The wish comes full circle as John used that very car to tow his Jet Ski home.

John is thrilled with his blue (John’s favorite color) Kawasaki Jet Ski. In fact, he eagerly jumped on the toy as if he was ready to take it for a spin out on the water then and there. John is already putting his new Jet Ski to use. “Just last weekend I took it out for its maiden voyage around a lake in upstate New York. Everyone was shocked that Make-A-Wish was able to get their hands on a brand-new Jet Ski!” he said recently.

Time on the Jet Ski will allow John to forget about all things medical and just enjoy his time on the open water with his friends and family. Now John can focus on what is ahead and put his worries behind him.

A big thanks to Bertera Subaru for not only adopting John’s wish, but also for hosting his amazing wish reveal!

Make-A-Wish is in the business of delivering hope, and hope has never been more important than now for our wish kids.  It can be difficult to continue to hope when we have had so many dreams deferred due circumstances beyond our control, but the moment we have something to look forward to, everything begins to change. Hope is a superpower that kids living with critical illness, like John, have been tapping into long before many of us heard the word, “lockdown.” Helping more kids find hope is something we all have the power to do, because for these children—as for all of us—the promise of a wish is so much more than a temporary escape. It’s a wellspring of strength to keep fighting for better days. Hope is essential for children living with critical illnesses and you can unlock its transformative power today. Don’t wait for hope; create it!  Donate now at ct.wish.org.

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