Campaign raising funds to help fly young patients to wish sites
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Instead of focusing on what she can't change, Patti Harris likes to surround herself with those things that make her happy, particularly the students she teaches at Calabasas High School and photos of her son, Matthew Kaiser, during happier times.

More than 10 years ago, 9year-old Matthew had surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor. It was while the devoted spy fan was in remission that his wish was granted by the MakeAWish Foundation of the TriCounties. Accompanied by Harris and his 11-year-old sister, Kelly, Matthew traveled to Washington, D.C. to visit the White House and the CIA and FBI buildings.

"Agent 006½," as Matthew was called, was the first person ever allowed inside the intelligence-gathering agencies and made the front page of the L.A. Times on May 2, 1996, Harris said.

"It was incredible," she said.

The family connected emotionally with the people they met at the CIA, forming a relationship that was especially supportive when Matthew's condition took a turn for the worse a few months later. The 10-year-old died that December.

The next year, Harris and Kelly returned to Washington and stayed at the home of one of their CIA friends. In the years since, Harris stayed in touch with her friends until they retired.

"They were very instrumental in helping us get through the rocky times," Harris said.

The whole experience has taught the teacher that since she can't avoid memories, to embrace the ones that make her smile. So she has on display pictures of Matthew on the Washington trip: sitting on steps of the CIA building, being licked by a bombsniffing dog or cuddling with President Clinton's cat, Socks.

"When I look at these things, (I think) how blessed we are to have had these times," Harris said.

Make-A-Wish officials said that most of the 60 wishes a year they grant to children with a lifethreatening medical condition and the three people they take with them involve air travel. To fulfill those wishes, the nonprofit needs 12 million air miles a year but receives only 1 million miles in donations.

Air travel "is the single most expensive part of the wish," said Shanna Wasson Taylor, MakeAWish Foundation of the TriCounties chief executive officer.

With the average wish costing about $7,500 to grant, the nonprofit spends more than $60,000 a year in airline ticket purchase- the most avoidable expense the organization has, Wasson Taylor said.

To encourage air mile donations, the tri-county chapter is sponsoring the Giving Miles, Making Smiles Campaign through December 7.

Dennis Michael of Thousand Oaks recently donated the 30,000 frequent flyer miles- about the equivalent of one airline flight- he accumulated through years of business and pleasure trips.

A member of the board of directors, Michael knows the importance air flights play in fulfilling wishes. He said that families can escape the constant reminders of the child's medical condition while on the MakeAWish trip.

Harris, who maintained a relationship with the people at the Make-A-Wish Foundation over the years, is also pitching in. After she gave a presentation to the faculty at her school about the campaign, several teachers donated their air miles.

In addition, she said she plans to ask the school's student government if they'd take on the campaign as a November project.

Matthew inspired Harris to help other children by becoming a teacher after 25 years in the banking industry. She feels compelled to help the agency fulfill the wishes of other children coping with a lifethreatening illness.

"It's a passion and a pleasure," Harris said of teaching. "I truly do thank my son for that. … So he is making a difference in the lives of other children; it's corny but it's really, really true."

Since 1985, the MakeAWish Foundation of the TriCounties has granted the wishes of more than 800 children from the age of 2½ to 18 who have a lifethreatening medical condition and live in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

For more information about the Giving Miles Making Smiles Campaign, call (800) 899-WISH, ext. 4, or visit www.tri-counties.wish.org.