STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — They're in the business of making dreams come true. And boy, do they deliver. But, they can't do it without support from the community. News 5 learned that one local company has been helping grant wishes with a major fundraising event. It's a big effort to help kids who could use a little magic. Kids like J'ior Spraggins. The 6-year-old is like many kids his age.
"I like to, umm, explore and stuff," he told us. "I like deer, I like squirrels, I love a dolphin, I love a whale. I love a shark. I mostly love sharks."
But in some ways, J'ior is very different from the other kids. He's probably spent more time in hospitals than most adults, going through several liver surgeries. His mother, Shawna Storms, told us she was terrified.
"He had one when he was first born, and he had another one when he was two, and then he had another one right before he turned three," she told us.
Three major surgeries by age three, including a liver transplant. J'ior had been diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease in infants.
"When I first googled his disease and what comes along with it they basically said most of those kids don't make it to be a year old," Storms said. "I was thinking am I planning a first birthday or am I planning a funeral?"
Fast forward to today, and J'ior is brimming with unbridled enthusiasm. That's to be expected. He just got back from his first trip to Disneyland.
"It was kind of excellent," he said of the trip.
"Being able to go to Disneyland and get my oldest son so they could spend time together, and Make a Wish made that happen for him," Storms said.
J'ior is one of thousands of kids who saw their wish become reality thanks to Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. But, they can't do it without some help. Jarrett Lang is the Director of Marketing at WA Smith Financial, a wealth management company.
"It's $10,000 to grant a wish," he told us. WA Smith has been supporting charitable organizations for years. In 2018, they focused all their fundraising efforts on Make a Wish.
"Sometimes you wonder, 'where did this money really go?' For the Make a Wish Foundation, when you donate to them you know excatly where it's going to go and how it impacts the people that benefit from it."
Since making that shift back in 2018, WA Smith has raised more than $1,000,000 for Make-A-Wish. That's enough to grant 100 wishes for kids like J'ior. Lang even got a chance to meet J'ior and see how well-spent that money was.
"He spent quite a while telling me about all the things that he got to do and all the things he enjoyed there so it puts it in perspective for you," Lang said. The father told us that meeting J'ior and learning his story hit close to home.
"He's like any other normal kid. He enjoys playing, he enjoys video games and science and planets. I felt like I was talking to my son."
All this kindness, all the generosity, all the magic in granting wishes; it's come full circle for J'ior and his mom. J'ior has already started his own nonprofit with a mission to deliver Christmas gifts to kids in the hospital.
"It makes him want to do more with his non-profit," Storms told us.
J'ior may even draw inspiration from his own hero, Optimus Prime. He said that was his favorite character to meet during his trip to Disneyland.
"He's so cool and he turns into a truck. He always protects his friends," J'ior said.
But, of course, there's one other person who always comes out on top in J'ior's heart. After all, it was his mom right next to him on all those thrill rides.
"My mom is just the best," he said.
WA Smith is having its annual fundraising event, Wish Upon a Star: A Night of Hope and Wishes, on Friday, Aug. 22.
