When nine-year-old Cooper Jones made his wish to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, more than anything, he said he wanted to go to Churchill, Manitoba, to see polar bears in the wild.
"Because I thought maybe they'd be extinct soon," said Cooper, who is in grade four at Westview Elementary School.
In July 2014, doctors discovered Cooper had a brain tumour, and then in 2016 tumours in his spine appeared.
Cooper and his mother Tanya and father Lloyd leave for Churchill on Thursday, October 5, for two days of adventure.
Make-A-Wish has made sure Cooper has the essential gear, including a polar-bear water bottle, backpack, polar-bear journal and a Make-A-Wish Foundation scarf.
Make-A-Wish makes dreams come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions.
“We’ll be out on the tundra looking for polar bears,” said Cooper. “Oh yeah, we’ll be going dogsledding, too."
Cooper will also be visiting the polar-bear jail, where bears that encroach too closely to town are held before being returned to the wild. And he will be taken over the tundra in a helicopter ride, but that is a surprise, according to Tanya.
Cooper receives his wish, but it is bittersweet, according to his mom. The family received bad news last week.
“We knew he had two little tiny tumours in his spinal canal,” said Tanya. “He had radiation and they hadn't grown in over a year. We thought we were doing okay, but this MRI we had just last week showed that both of those tumours are growing.”
After hearing the latest news about her son’s condition, Tanya said the family thought he might not be able to go on the trip.
When the Jones’ return from Cooper’s polar excursion, Tanya said he will be going back into treatment for at least a month.
“He's had a pretty serious few years,” said Tanya. “When you talk to him he doesn't get overly excited about things, because he's been through a lot.”
