Wish stories

Six-year-old Filip lives with his parents and his big sister near Birmingham in the West Midlands. 

His mum, Marzena, describes the day their lives changed forever: "Filip suddenly start having very strong seizures - hundreds of them, one after another after another. He was in a coma for four long months before the seizures stopped. He was diagnosed with a very rare condition called FIRES (Febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome). There are no words to describe how it feels to find out how serious this illness is. We don’t want anyone to ever know that feeling.

“Filip loves cuddles and kisses. He likes sitting with someone next to him or on someone’s knees. He loves stories, musical toys and going for family walks and adventures in the forest.

“Filip needs help with every aspect of his life, from brushing his teeth to changing his nappy, washing or moving around. We work very hard every day on his physiotherapy.

“There have been lots of good times but also bad times. Because of the brain damage caused by his seizures Filip lost his speech, vision, hearing, walking, and understanding. He lost control of his body. Now, we are working on helping him sit on his own, hold his head steadily, maybe even walk in the future. We’ve already achieved a lot in the last three years but there is a lot of work still to do.

Marzena adds: “We turned to Make-A-Wish to give Filip something special just for him. Filip loves to spend time with his close family and we always try new things with him.

“Filip is in his best condition right now so it feels like the right time for his wish to be granted. Filip’s wish is to go on a family adventure in the mountains. We were always traveling together before he became ill. Now, we are really happy that we can once again to show our son new places and spend time relaxing together far away from home.”