It all started with a young girl’s wish.

Last summer Katie McCurdy of Sayville was supposed to go on vacation with her best friend and cousin Amelia Woods. But then Katie was diagnosed with SLE Lupus and the trip was cancelled. When life at the McCurdys settled down into more of a routine, mom Maura contacted the Suffolk County Chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation to see if there was a way to do something special for the 13-year-old.

Make-a-Wish is an organization that since 1980 has been granting wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Karine Hollander, president and CEO of the Suffolk Chapter, says in that county alone, 125 children a year have their wish granted. “We have 100 children anticipating a wish right now. Each wish is unique, from meeting a celebrity to riding a horse to shopping or going on a trip,” she says. “We like to say, `If they can dream it, we can do it.’”

The Wish Unfolds

What Katie, a fan of the show America’s Next Top Model, dreamed was to appear in a photo in a magazine with her best friend. Her wish grantor, David Guarino, came to us, and we were happy to brainstorm ways we could creatively include Katie and Amelia in Newsday’s Parents & Children. The result was a full-blown fashion shoot with a generous cast of volunteers who all wanted to be part of making Katie’s wish come true.

Lester’s, the children’s clothing store, agreed to allow the girls a shopping spree. Jay Brenner of Brenner Photo Productions in Plainview agreed to be the photographer, and also to provide hair and make-up stylists. Make-a-Wish arranged a limousine for the girls to arrive at their photo shoot in style, as well as lunch on the set for the hungry models and their legion of onlookers. And we at the magazine had a special surprise for the girls and their families that they still don’t know about as of this writing.

All that remained was to let Katie in on the fact that her wish was about to come true.

The First Surprise

On March 6, Guarino and co-wish grantor Carol Weilandics spirited Katie and her parents Maura and Brendan to Newsday where our publisher Andrée Sanquini and I surprised her with the news. Katie’s eyes lit up with every new detail — especially that she and Amelia would each get to keep a Lester’s ensemble. Tim Knight, Newsday’s publisher, stopped by to say hello, and staff member Bob Lipper gave the family a personal tour of the paper. Katie even met Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Walt Handelsman

The next step was the shopping trip on March 16. Marilyn Werner from Lester’s arranged for us to shop at the Huntington store, where the manager and salespeople couldn’t be more helpful. Patty Berwald of Berwald Creative, Lester’s ad agency, joined us to help select outfits. Katie had a blast choosing not only her wardrobe — formal, fun and colorful choices — but Amelia’s as well, since she couldn’t be there. And Katie was already practicing her modeling poses.

The Big Day

The big event was April 1. Katie and her mother, along with Amelia and her mom, Kathryn Woods, joined the crew at Brenner’s for the shoot, including Alan Benasaraf, Scott Catania and videographers Joseph Refano and Paul Brokaw from Media Mechanix. Refano was creating a video of the entire event, another treat. In addition, Suffolk Make-a-Wish staff were there, including Johan Staley. Make-up stylist Maggie Woods and hair stylist Ilisa Lupo got to work on turning our already cute models into stunning fashion stars. The girls went through three different clothing-make-up-hair style changes throughout the day. And both adapted to the shoot as though they were already professionals.

The final event was on April 9, when Katie and her mom once again returned to Newsday. Our art director Michelle Kaszycki had promised Katie that she could watch her design the article on page 46. And Katie even had some input about photos. But she still didn’t know about this article and the photos appearing here.

It’s All Amazing

When these events ended, Katie announced: “This was even better than I expected. I was excited about having my photo in the magazine. But getting my hair and make-up done and being like a model with my best friend was amazing.”

Adds Maura McCurdy: “The experience has been wonderful for our whole family. We’ve had some dark days, but this experience reaffirms my belief in humanity.”

As for the rest of us, who all came together with enthusiasm for one girl’s wish, Katie’s poise and joy throughout the process made the event a life-changing one.

What about the real surprise, you ask? On May 1, at the 25th Anniversary Gala for the Suffolk Make-a-Wish Foundation, we will unveil to the McCurdy family the last part of the wish that Katie has been granted: the cover photo of this issue. See, Katie, dreams can come true — sometimes even more than you imagine.