JoJo’s Wish is a branch of Forever JoJo Strong and was the most surprising result and blessing from the very first Golf Outing in 2023. We were completely and utterly caught by surprise at how incredibly successful our fundraising efforts were, of course due to the efforts and hard work of our volunteers and the extremely generous donations of our supporters. After last year’s golf outing one of our closest friends (and biggest supporters) asked us a very simple and straight forward question, “How long do you think you can you get donations to fund scholarships to athletes graduating from Ward Melville High School?” He was 100% right and while we always knew from the beginning that we would look beyond the Three Village Community, we didn’t really know how, when or what that would look like. We wanted so much to help other kids, other athletes and other warriors that were like JoJo in many different ways but we didn’t quite know how until that question was asked.
We began thinking about JoJo’s experience from Day 1 of diagnosis and everything that he went through. We remembered the day that the social worker at the hospital approached JoJo about Make-A-Wish. He was so excited, we all started thinking of what he could do, started making plans, etc… I remember asking her are you sure he is eligible, he’s 18 years old and she assured us that as long as he was still 18 he would get his wish. Well, guess what? He was not eligible. You must be under the age of 18 and that meant he would not get his wish. Not only was he fighting for his life, not able to do anything he wanted to or should be doing, feeling absolutely horrible due to treatment but now he was so disappointed and just devastated. At this point JoJo was far into treatment, he was not getting his wish and we moved on. As parents we did whatever we could to make any wish possible that JoJo had come true. One of the best wishes that we were able to fulfill was getting JoJo a puppy! Many of our friends and family would do whatever they could to make any wish possible, going to sporting events, golfing, a weekend in Montauk, anything to bring a smile to JoJo’s handsome face and help ease the harsh reality of what he was going through. The graciousness and generosity was always abundant and we all were so appreciative.
So here we are, on the heels of a wildly successful event, remembering that JoJo didn’t get his wish and we thought what if we could make a wish for someone else come true! We met with our team and everyone loved the idea but how do we do this? Well thankfully we happen to know a few people that are in the medical profession that could help make that happen. Our Wish Ambassadors, Dr Joseph Cirrone and Karen Cirrone, will be the liaisons for our foundation and will partner with local medical offices located throughout Long Island to promote JoJo's wish and to bestow wishes to eligible recipients.
With the continued generosity and support of your donations, JoJo’s Wish will grant wishes to courageous warriors fighting a serious medical condition and are between the ages of 18-25 years old. Medical eligibility will be deemed by New York Cancer Foundation Advocates for Hope. Once JoJo’s wish is notified of medical eligibility we will work with the New York Cancer Foundation Advocates for Hope to handle necessary arrangements. JoJo’s Wish will not provide funding for medical and/or living expenses. Only one wish per person and cannot have received a wish previously.
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Thank you to our very sweet and talented friend, Olivia Passanante for designing and creating the JoJo’s Wish logo.