Wish Comes True for Teen With Leukemia

Taking high-speed plunges of several hundred feet with dozens of harrowing turns in between while standing on your feet may not seem like the dream getaway.

But it is for J.J. Ochoa, a 19-year-old Ventura leukemia patient who chose Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio--home to some of the world’s tallest, fastest and steepest roller coasters--as his dream vacation.

And the Make-a-Wish Foundation made it come true.

Ochoa said he is thrilled to be headed to a park where the roller coasters are recognized by “The Guinness Book of World Records.”

“It’ll be kind of cool to go on the biggest, most-everything kind of roller coasters,” Ochoa said. “This place just kind of has it all.”

Ochoa leaves for his trip Tuesday with his family and two friends.

At age 17 he was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a disease that accounts for 80% of all childhood leukemias and results from an over-proliferation of abnormal blood cells in the blood and bone marrow.

After two hospitalizations since December, Ochoa said he is “doing great now.”

The Make-a-Wish Foundation fulfills the wishes of children ages 2 1/2 to 18 who are facing life-threatening illnesses.

Ochoa was referred to the foundation just before his 18th birthday.

The Make-a-Wish Foundation fulfilled the wishes of 52 children in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties last year. All wishes were funded through contributions by the local community.