Mercy Home was honored to recently welcome a very special guest, Kaylan. Kaylan was brought to our Home by the Make a Wish Foundation to fulfill her greatest wish—to give back to other kids in need!

Make A Wish Foundation grants life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Many children choose things like trips to Disney World or to become a princess or astronaut for the day. But from the beginning, the only thing 9-year-old Kaylan ever wanted was to help children in need.

“[I wanted to give to Mercy Home] because I always felt like some people don’t really have the love they need,” she explained.

To make sure that our kids felt that there were people out there who loved and cared about them, Kaylan and her family worked with Make a Wish to put together bags with hygiene products to donate to our Home. They also gave some beautiful and cozy fleece blankets for our kids to enjoy.

Kaylan’s mom, Grace, explained that from the time two years ago that they first started discussing what Kaylan’s wish would be, giving back was always her top priority. Even when other options were suggested, like backstage passes to a BTS concert, she held firm. Make a Wish helped them connect with two nonprofits in Chicago, Mercy Home and Ignite that supported causes Kaylan was particularly passionate about—helping children in need and helping the homeless.

Kaylan’s family is extremely proud of her decision to give back.

“It is a lot for a little kid, at nine years old, to have a heart like that,” Grace said.

Kaylan will be having surgery later this summer, but she and her family plan on coming back to tour the inside of our West Loop Campus and maybe even enjoy a meal in our cafeteria. She is also excited to visit Pongo again!

We are truly honored to be part of making Kaylan’s wish come true, and cannot express enough how thankful we are that she decided to support Mercy Home’s children.

“Kaylan, who could have wished for anything, simply requested to help children in need,” Fr. Scott said. “Meeting her was an inspiration. She is beautiful, funny, happy, and has a generous heart and beautiful spirit. This was certainly a morning to remember.”

Thank you to Sam Schreiber and Frannie Jones at Make a Wish for helping connect Kaylan and her family with our Home. We are so thankful to have been part of this magical day. It was a truly a life-changing experience for all of us.