Colton is a young boy from Lake County who qualified for a wish in 2007.  Over the last three years he has had an extremely difficult time fighting Leukemia.  He hoped to see his wish, to meet the Navy Seals, fulfilled many times while he was going through treatment but was simply too weak.

Finally in 2010 he made great progress and was even able to attend school again.

The wish process began with a call to one of our contacts at Mac Dill.  They were very excited about the request and wanted to make it as special as possible.  Calls were made up the chain of command and reached the desk of the highest ranking official, Admiral Eric Olson, Commander of the US Special Operations Command.  Admiral Olson requested that the Naval Special Warfare Group TWO in Norfolk, Virginia make Colton’s wish a priority.

Operations Master Chief, Dan Schroeder and Captain Colin Kilrain led the “project” and even took time out of their busy schedules to visit the family at their home in Florida for a preliminary wish visit.  Colton’s parents were very impressed as these official but friendly military men gave a 20 page power point presentation right in their living room.  After going over the suggested itinerary, all the “boys” enjoyed playing GI Joe with Colton and his younger brother Nick.

The day finally arrived for the family to travel to Norfolk.  They were greeted at the airport by Dan and Colin, now on a first name basis and escorted to a beautiful hotel on the beach.  The next two days were filled with activities for Colton to experience such as a tour of the parachute lockers, obstacle courses, water performance work and a helicopter ride.  Colton was thrilled to learn all of these skills as he proudly wore a uniform made just for him.

Colton’s mother commented by saying “The experience we have had here is just indescribable, it’s been every bit if not above and beyond fulfilling Colton’s dream.” “I’ve gone from the crying mom in the corner to the smiling mom watching Colton and his brother Nick, interact with the SEALS.”

The wish was planned to coincide with a milestone for Colton as he celebrated his 10th birthday with the SEALS, a day he will never forget.

In a follow up email Captain Kilrain wrote, ‘I speak for all Navy SEALS, when I say it was truly a pleasure to do this for Colton and his family.  Our guys are battle hardened after years of fighting overseas, but you wouldn’t have noticed it yesterday.  I was proud to see how empathetic and excited they were to host Colton.  I believe we gained more from Colton than he did from us.’