Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Greater Pennsylvania and Southern West Virginia

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Tristan is all smiles as his train set wish comes true

Seven-year-old Tristan had one simple wish - a Harry Potter train set that he had been asking his parents for the last three years, but never was able to receive. The Make-A-Wish Foundation wanted to make sure that Tristan's wish was very special, so they went to work with GE Transportation to arrange for Tristan to become a conductor for a day.

Tristan's wish day started with a gift from his volunteers -- a Harry Potter costume, so he could feel just like Harry as he rode the GE locomotive. Then came a tour of the facility where they make the locomotives. Within 5 minutes, Tristan was asking when he could actually drive the train!

When Tristan, his family and wish team arrived at the testing site for GE locomotives, they were told that everyone there could go along to experience this with Tristan -- that meant nine people in the cab of the locomotive. Tristan sat on the conductor's lap and was at the controls. He corresponded with the person in the locomotive behind ours, telling him when we were ready to go forward, backward or brake -- which we did often. As soon as the train started, Tristan shouted, "This is SO cool!"

The test track is about three miles, round trip, and on the return of the first trip, Tristan asked if he could go again. Of course, he was told he could do this as many times as he wanted! He was having a blast and testing how good the locomotive would respond to forward, backward and braking within seconds of each other. His smile just got wider and wider! After the second round trip, Tristan was getting anxious for his real wish -- his Harry Potter train set.

The look of joy and disbelief on Tristan's face said it all -- the train set was perfect. He could not wait to get home to set it up. But that would have to wait. The next morning, Tristan and his mom headed back to Pittsburgh for yet another cancer treatment. He has a long road ahead of him -- more treatments and inevitably a stem cell transplant. But on each return home, our little wizard will have his train set and Harry Potter costume waiting for him that will bring him hours of joy.