Wade’s World Foundation was created in memory of Wade Botteon who passed away June 27, 2003. He was 13 years old. Wade was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 2 years old. He had three bone marrow transplants during his short life, thanks to his perfect match sister, Jamie. Wade always had a smile on his face and could melt your heart with just one conversation with him. Even though he missed a lot of school, he was extremely smart for his age. He was in 7th grade when he died. Wade loved WWE Wrestling, the Yankees (yes, I said the Yankees!), Nascar (Jeff Gordon was his man), Elton John (who Wade met a number of times back stage) and flying radio controlled airplanes. He also was very “computer smart” and would spend a lot of his time playing on his computer. Xbox was his favorite game system and playing with his friends was Wade’s idea of a perfect afternoon spent. Wade also, in addition to having to deal with leukemia, had a very rare bone disease. His right arm and leg were shorter than the left side. He had almost a 5” lift on his right shoe. Even with that, when he felt good you could see him skipping along. His attitude was amazing and he would always answer a curious child’s questions about his special shoe. During Wade’s many, many hospital stays (some very lengthy), our family benefited greatly from the generosity of many people and organizations. It meant so much to us to have the support of family and friends during our stressfull and sometimes scary moments. We were also overcome with emotion to receive the support of complete strangers who donated gifts, money and words of encouragement. To this day, we cannot thank everyone enough for all of their help. Wade was always amazed at the acts of kindness around us. Wade’s World is founded to keep Wade’s giving heart and soul alive. We use all monies raised to help children in our area and to help brighten up a child’s life the way Wade did for ours. |
