A young man from Nova Scotia is the first to have his wish to fly granted by Make-A-Wish Canada in two years.
Pandemic travel restrictions meant Make-A-Wish couldn’t grant wishes involving air travel.
Joyce Nifort, Development Manager for Make-A-Wish Canada, says 80 per cent of wishes involve some kind of travel, and because of that a lot of kids’ wishes have been changed or delayed.
She says Connor Voss wished to fly, and now he and his family are headed on a Toronto vacation.
Tanya Voss, Connor’s mother, says she’s blown away by the help and support to make his wish come true.
“We never ever thought that they’d do this much,” she says. “We just though, ‘here’s your tickets, have a great time,’ and ‘congratulations, you get to go on a trip,’ but it’s way over the top, more than we could have ever hoped for.”
Make-A-Wish Canada helped with much of the vacation, including a bus from the family’s home in Amherst, Nova Scotia, to the airport, and a support person for Connor during the trip.
Brianna Voss, Connor’s sister, planned many of their activities in Toronto, including a trip to the aquarium and a visit to the CN tower.
She says they were not sure they could go until they received a last-minute call that Connor would be the first Make-A-Wish kid to fly after pandemic restrictions dropped.
“Connor deserves the world,” she says. “We just feel really fortunate that we’re the first ones, so it feels even more special than a normal wish.”
Voss says her brother will have a window seat for his first-ever plane ride when his wish came true Thursday.