For Godfreys, a Wish Becomes a Way to Give Back

Members of the Godfrey family are all smiles after day one of the 30-day challenge.

By Travis Dockery

The Mountain Buzz

HAYESVILLE, NC — A year after their son’s brain tumor diagnosis, Clay County Schools Superintendent Melissa Godfrey and her family spent a week in Florida with one job: be a family.

Make-A-Wish granted Cooper Godfrey’s wish this past April, around the one-year mark of his diagnosis in the spring of 2025. The trip included a week at Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, Florida, along with visits to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios.

Godfrey said the parks and the village were wonderful. What mattered more, she said, was the space the trip carved out after a year of travel to Duke, appointments, treatments and the constant disruption that follows a diagnosis like Cooper’s.

“There was something incredibly special about having a worry-free week where our kids could simply enjoy being kids, and we could all be together without worrying about what came next,” she said.

Make-A-Wish arranged transportation, meals, housing, spending money and surprises. For a family that had spent a year managing medications, schedules and logistics, Godfrey called that an “incredible gift.”

“For one week, our only job was to enjoy being a family,” she said.

She was also struck by how the organization treated the whole household, not only the child whose wish was being granted.

“They understand that when a child faces a serious diagnosis, the effects reach far beyond that one child,” Godfrey said. “His siblings and our entire family were made to feel special. They gave each of us something that we needed during a really difficult season — joy, rest, time together and some really wonderful memories.”

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. It also lines up with Make-A-Wish’s 30-Mile Challenge, and the Godfreys decided that was how they wanted to mark the month.

The 30-Mile Challenge

The challenge is a fundraising and awareness effort built around a simple goal: cover 30 miles during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and use those miles to raise money for more wishes. Families and supporters typically walk, run, hike or bike the miles on their own schedule — around the neighborhood, on local trails, at the track or wherever they can log the distance — while asking friends, coworkers and neighbors to sponsor the effort.

For the Godfreys, the miles are not just a fitness target. After a year of hospital corridors and appointment calendars, they are a way to turn movement into something that helps the next family.

“When we started thinking about how our family could recognize Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and honor the children and families who are still fighting this battle, participating in this challenge just felt right,” Godfrey said. “For us, every mile has a little more meaning behind it.”

She said the family is not alone in Clay County. She knows of at least two other local children whose wishes have been granted in the past year.

“I have seen firsthand the hope, relief and joy that a wish can bring to a family during an incredibly difficult time,” she said. “The impact is so much bigger than the trip or experience itself.”

Clay County is served by Make-A-Wish Central and Western North Carolina, which covers 51 counties from Alamance County west to the mountains. The chapter, based in Charlotte with a Triad office in Greensboro, has granted about 6,000 wishes since 1985 and reported a record 430 wishes in its most recent fiscal year.

How to help

Neighbors who want to support the Godfreys’ challenge, or other local wish kids, can:

• Donate through the Godfrey family's challenge at (1) Facebook

• Donate directly to Make-A-Wish Central and Western North Carolina at wish.org/nc/give. One-time gifts, monthly giving and in-kind donations all go toward granting wishes in this region.

• Start or support a personal “Wish Your Way” fundraiser through the chapter at wish.org by searching Wish Your Way Central and Western North Carolina. That is the usual way families and friends create a page tied to a walk, run or 30-mile effort and share it on Facebook.

• Give nationally at wish.org/donate if they prefer the broader Make-A-Wish America campaign. Make-A-Wish America has said September donations during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month are being matched by Salesforce.

  
  

Make-A-Wish Central and Western North Carolina can be reached at (704) 339-0334 or toll-free at (877) 677-9474. The chapter office is at 6324 Fairview Road, Suite 500, Charlotte, NC 28210.

Godfrey said the community has stood with them throughout Cooper’s journey, and the challenge is one way the family hopes to give some of that support back.

“It is truly an honor and a joy for our family to participate in the 30-Mile Challenge and raise funds for Make-A-Wish,” she said. “We hope this challenge is one small way we can give back from all that we have been given, while also honoring children and families who are facing childhood cancer.”