You Deserve a Wish, Too: Why Deborah Boger Refers

Over her 40+ year career in hematology nursing, helping grant wishes has been a highlight for Debbie Boger.  

Part of Their Lives 

Debbie, a Nurse Practitioner at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, cares for children with blood conditions like sickle cell disease and bone marrow failure. Her patients possess resilience, courage, and strength: they face chronic conditions, often diagnosed at birth.  

Debbie loves that she can “start working with a baby and their family right from the beginning, all the way into adulthood. It gives you the opportunity to be part of a little person’s life for their whole life.” 

An Acknowledgement they Deserve 

Many believe that wishes are only for children with cancer or terminal conditions. Instead, wishes are for every child with an eligible life-threatening condition, including many of Debbie’s hematology patients.  

Debbie has been referring patients to Make-A-Wish for as long as she can remember. When she talks to families, she shares that a wish “is an acknowledgement that you are living with a disease every day… and you are deserving of the opportunity.”   

Debbie adores watching her patients ponder their one true wish. “They make my heart smile,” she says. Her patients have wished for playhouses, trips to Walt Disney World, and even to meet the Pope! Most recently, Debbie and her team were part of a wish reveal for a patient who wished to have a puppy. Watching his wish come true was a moment Debbie will never forget.  

Shifting the Focus to Hope 

“At the moment, the wish gives them excitement,” Debbie reflects, “but in the long run… it’s going to give them strength, happiness, and hope with the management of their disease.” 

She says, “Make-A-Wish gives me the opportunity to let my kids be part of something that is an acknowledgement of the struggle they’ve had, the courage and bravery they’ve shown — it’s a reward for the hard work that it takes to be a kid with a chronic illness and a parent taking care of a chronic illness.” 

For Debbie’s patients and their families, who bravely face chronic disease from birth, a wish is a chance to shift their focus: from medical needs to emotional needs, from scary, grown-up topics to childlike joy, and from anxiety to hope. “It’s an honor to do this for them,” says Debbie. We couldn’t agree more.