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Wish come true makes big splash
By Donna Daley
Telegram & Gazette Staff
GRAFTON-- From the moment he enters the water, Eric Bissell
sings. There's his rendition of “The Wheels on the Bus,” but mostly
he sings Walt Disney classics.
Eric is a veritable jukebox of animated
tunes and his favorite is a Jiminy Cricket ditty, “When You Wish Upon
a Star.”
Eight-year-old Eric, who has cerebral
palsy, made his wish four years ago, whether or not upon a star is
uncertain, but it came true nonetheless.
A month ago, Eric received a hot tub,
courtesy of Starlight Children's Foundation of New England. ThermoSpas
donated the tub and Priority Electric provided the connection.
Starlight Children's Foundation is an
international nonprofit organization with the mission to improve the
quality of life for seriously ill children and their families. Among
other activities, it grants the wishes of children between the ages of 4
and 18 who have chronic, serious or life-threatening illnesses.
The New England chapter has granted 600
wishes to date.
At least once a day, Eric splashes around
his “Cinderella Pool,” named for his favorite Disney character. The
hot tub was chosen from a wish list of Eric's favorite things that
included an all-day elevator ride and a day spent at a Disney Store
watching Disney features on the store's big screen television.
This hot tub is something Eric has hoped
for since his fourth birthday, when he and his identical twin brother,
Aaron, and his parents, Richard and Cindy Bissell visited Storyland in
New Hampshire.
It was their first time away from home, in
a hotel, which caused Eric some anxiety. To calm his fears, his parents
told him he was staying in Cinderella's house.
That night, he discovered the hot tub. He
had seen and used regular swimming pools, but never a hot tub.
The hot tub is as therapeutic for Eric as
it is refreshing. In the pool, Eric, who uses a wheelchair, is
weightless and able to move freely. Eric's physician said the benefits
of hydrotherapy also include increased breath control, improved balance
and coordination, increased mobility and range of motion, and increased
strength and endurance.
Eric has been dubbed by his family as the
“King of the Hot Tub.”
The pool also has helped relax Eric's
muscles, which sometimes go into spasms. Before settling in for the
night, Eric usually needs to take a muscle relaxant. But on the nights
that he spends in the pool he falls asleep within minutes, without
medication.
“He just wades in the water and it
relaxes his muscles,” Cindy Bissell said.
“This is a wish that is going to keep on
giving for years and years,” she added.
Eric and Aaron were born 3.5 months
premature with severe disabilities -- Eric with cerebral palsy, and
Aaron with damage to his trachea and windpipe from a breathing tube he
needed as an infant. Because scar tissue blocked his airway, Aaron
needed a tracheostomy, for the first four years of his life, which
allowed him to breathe through an opening in his throat.
In May, the Bissell family grew by one
more. On May 1, Mr. and Mrs. Bissell adopted Anthony, a 9-year-old boy
with cerebral palsy from New York City who had been in their care as a
foster child since last year.
Mr. and Mrs. Bissell have become resources
for parents of children with similar disabilities. In 1996, they created
a Web site (tracheostomy.com) dedicated to Aaron, to provide information
about tracheostomies, and it has becoming a leading Web site on that
topic.
They also have developed a Web site for a
local disability resource group, www.communitygateway.org.
Information on the Starlight Children's
Foundation can be found at www.nestarlight.org.
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