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Coventry youth gets a wish |
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Thursday, 30 April 2009 |
Jessica Selby
COVENTRY — Christopher Carlino may not be able to make the trip to Africa as he wished, but he can envision what the country looks like every night when he puts his head on his pillow.
The eight year old recently had his bedroom redecorated by Christine McIntyre-Hannon, a professional muralists contracted through “A Wish Come True,” a local wish granting agency.
Carlino was referred to the agency by his parent child consultant from Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where he was receiving treatment for Nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin's lymphoma (NLPHL), a type of Hodgkin's disease. Carlino was diagnosed with the disease at the age of seven. He underwent four months of chemotherapy to treat the cancer, but is today, just about a year later, doing much better. The Coventry youngster is currently in remission and according to his parents, John and Susan, has been given a “good” prognosis.
“We go back every three months to have Christopher rechecked, and his doctor’s tell us that he won’t actually be considered cancer-free for five years, but his prognosis is good and if you ask him, he says that he feels good so we are grateful,” Susan Carlino, Christopher’s mother, said.
Although that news came as the greatest relief they had heard in over a year, Carlino said that this most recent occasion that happened for him through “A Wish Come True,” was an additional highlight for the family. She said that she was “flawed” when she received the call from the “A Wish Come True” foundation notifying them that Christopher had been refereed for a wish and had been approved to go through the process.
“Things like that just don’t happen to us,” John Carlino, Christopher’s father said. “You see things like this on TV, but not in real life.”
To his amazement, it did happen for the Carlino family. Beverly Molles, of “A Wish Come True,” contacted the Carlino family and arranged for two wish granters to come in and meet the family at their home. During that initial visit with the wish granters, Christopher decided what he wanted for his wish; he wanted his bedroom to be transformed into an “African Jungle.”
“Chris’s first idea was a trip to Africa, but when we told him that that wouldn’t be possible because the agency does not grant wishes for international travel, he said that he wanted a Bakugan [Battle brawlers], but we convinced him that there had to be a middle ground in between a trip to Africa and those little plastic balls,” John Carlino said.
And that is how the wish granters and his family aided Christopher in concocting the wish to bring Africa to him instead.
The artist, Christine McIntyre-Hannon, was brought in to meet with Christopher and his family.
She said that she showed Christopher several books with images of different reptiles and that together they choose the ones that would earn a permanent place on his walls amongst the trees, leaves and other natural covering that stretched from one corner of the room to another.
Each and every inch of the mural was hand painted, much of it very time consuming, McIntyre-Hannon said. She said that she spent seven days, eight hours a day, on the mural. She said that she had her husband and her son come in during February vacation and painted the base coat beige covering the bright orange color that had previously covered the walls. Then she came back a few weeks later in March to begin the mural.
“That one snake right there took close to six hours to do,” McIntyre-Hannon said. “Half way through it I really started regretting choosing a boa constrictor because the detail was just so much on its back it was taking a long time to finish.”
Now that the work is behind them and the room is completed, everyone said that they are “very pleased” with the finished product. McIntyre-Hannon said she would probably be too scared to sleep in the room, but Christopher said he “loves” it. He said that the snakes and the chameleons are his favorites.
“I like the details on the leaves and the chameleons the best,” Christopher said.
According to Molles, “A Wish Come True,” which has been in existence for 27 years, relies solely on the generosity of private and corporate donations to fund wishes for children in Rhode Island and parts of southeastern Massachusetts suffering from life threatening medical conditions.
This particular wish for Christopher, Molles said, was granted by the generous financial contribution of a fourth grade class from the Village Lower School in East Greenwich.
She said that everyone else involved with the mural was also an integral part of making the wish come true for Christopher.
McIntyre-Hannon said that the mural that she painted on Christopher’s walls would have been a $2,600 job had she priced it through her regular business, Hannon Art Works in North Scituate, but that is not anywhere near what she charged the “A Wish Come True,” agency for this work. She said that she always cuts the cost of the job into a third when she does work for them.
According to Molles, all of the supporters of the agency’s cause are like that. She said that Greenville Hardware and Benjamin Moore donated the paint for this project and that Rooms to Grow also provided new furniture and bedding at a greatly reduced cost to the agency to complete the room makeover, but that many other local businesses, companies and private citizens are readily willing to make financial contributions to the agency for their wish granting purposes.
To learn more about “A Wish Come True” and or what they do, call the agency at 401-781-9199 or visit their website at www.awish.org.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 30 April 2009 )
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