10-year-old Isabella Tonn was battling cancer when her family was approached by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. What she decided to use her wish for surprised and inspired many.
"It makes me happy just helping people,” says Isabella. She has just returned from Mexico, where she and her family volunteered at an orphanage.
"We knew it was a really special wish, and we were really excited to share it with everyone,” says Amber Benders from Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Most kids her age choose wishes like going on a trip to Disneyland, or seeing Justin Bieber in concert. In fact, Isabella flirted with that idea herself.
I had a few ideas; one of them was Justin Beiber. But then I thought, in a few years I'm probably not going to like him anymore."
Instead, Isabella chose a trip where she could help others.
"Even when kids come in to donate their birthday money to make a wish it blows me away,” admits Benders, “that a kid can be so selfless, and want to give to others when they have this opportunity... It's just so inspiring."
For Isabella, her wish wasn’t anything special; it was simply what she wanted most.
"We asked her... if you could have anything in the world, what would you want,” explains Isabella’s dad Ryan Tonn. Her response: “to go help in an orphanage... We thought: that's a pretty good wish."
"Make-a-wish, they are there to give kids something that will make them really, really happy,” he adds. “ For Bella, I know that makes her happy, to be with kids and babies."
At first, the family declined the offer from Make-a-Wish, wanting the wish to go to a child with a more serious condition than Isabella.
“She has a very indolent form of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It was managed by surgery alone, followed by every three months she has a follow-up appointment. We are so fortunate and so grateful it is what it is. It could have been so much worse,” says her father.
Her parents changed their minds when she told them what her wish would be.
“We weren't too surprised by it, because that's always kind of been Isabella’s nature. She's always been very kind, very helpful, always thinking of people who are in need,” says Tonn.
"It makes me happy just helping people,” explains Isabella. “Knowing that there are people in the world that need a hug and need some love, I thought that's perfect for me."
It turns out; it was perfect for the entire family.
"It was life-changing for us,” Tonn shares. "There's 130 some volunteers there that work for pretty much nothing… this big group of people that just go and put everything on hold in their lives just to help people they don't know… that was amazing to see."
"We brought four duffel bags of clothes down and I got to hand them out to all the houses with the kids in them,” Isabella recalls.
"It was really cool. Most of the time I was in the nursery holding babies."
For Isabella, the trip was more than a life experience; it was literally a wish come true.
"I feel happy that I did that because now I've made friends with people at the orphanage and now I know that my family's going to go back there for sure. It was just such an amazing experience.”
However, the trip was bitter sweet. It placed this 10-year-old in a world of poverty and struggle.
"It makes me feel sad because if we look around and see what we have and then look around there and see what they have, it's just such a difference,” she says.
“That breaks my heart."
“Knowing how much we get every day - we get meat and milk and stuff. It's just kind of sad…they only eat rice, that's all they have,” she adds.
Witnessing that reality first-hand has inspired Isabella and her family to do more.
"People there, they volunteer. They don't get paid or anything,” says Isabella. “They just give their life for those kids. They make them feel loved."
The Tonn family is planning on returning to the same orphanage in November to help out again.
"This was a great experience for Bella,” says her dad. “I hope it's a stepping stone ... To do more of this kind of thing."
"I think we're going to be back very soon,” he adds.
"I’m hoping to go back lots,” says Isabella. “I really enjoyed it. I'm excited to see those kids again."
To the general public, Isabella’s wish of choice may have been surprising, but to her parents, it was all part of the healing process.
“We said right from the onset of her illness... we really wanted Isabella’s illness to be used to help people,” says her dad.
"Otherwise, the pain and the suffering - it's kind of a waste."
Fortunately, Isabella’s pain is not too significant these days.
"She's doing great. She's been given an excellent prognosis."
And so, Isabella will continue paying it forward – helping to diminish the pain and suffering of others.
“It just brightens me up,” she says. “It just makes me feel really happy to help those kids, to help those people in need.”
With files from Fletcher Kent
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.