The 1st Annual "Dance For A Wish", a fundraiser benefitting Make-A-Wish San Diego. Dancers from Southern California come together to inspire and change lives through the art of dance. 2009’s Adopted Wish Child is Tiana Bezio who suffered a life-threatening bone marrow transplant.

Her wish was to visit Italy with her family which was granted in 2010. All money raised from Dance For A Wish goes to Make-A-Wish San Diego, and in adopting the OTD Wish Child's wish.

Tiana Bezio, age 14, is a fun loving girl.  She loves to sing, dance, and live the dramatic life.  She is constantly surrounded by her friends and loves to walk her dog Dex.  She spends several hours reading about vampires and other night life.   She is entering high school and knows she will have to move on to the classics soon.

 

She is counting the days until school starts because she will be a Freshman and very excited to move on to the next stage of her life.  But, this almost didn't happen.  She was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma (cancer) when she was 12 years old and after years of treatment is managing her condition well. 

 

We are looking forward to the high school years and later college where Tiana is planning a career saving animals from shelters and placing them in loving forever homes.

1st Annual Dance For A Wish


honoring Tiana Bezio


Dance For A Wish

“Dance For A Wish” is a fundraising dance event that brings prominent choreographers together to produce a showcase specifically dedicated to our adopted wish child. As ambassadors for Make-A-Wish San Diego, a non-profit organization that grant the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy, we are proud to say that we have been adopting wishes since 2009. Now, more than ever through “Dance For A Wish”, the wish children and their families need the support of this event to not only gain a hopeful experience for the wish child, but to also navigate through the struggles of life-threatening conditions.

The 2nd Annual "Dance For A Wish", a fundraiser benefitting Make-A-Wish San Diego. Dancers from Southern California come together to inspire and change lives through the art of dance. 2010’s Adopted Wish Child is Emely Valencia who suffered through a severe form of lymphoma. Emely loved playing the piano, so her wish was to get a baby grand piano which was given to her before our event. All money raised from Dance For A Wish goes to Make-A-Wish San Diego, and in adopting the OTD Wish Child's wish.

2nd Annual Dance For A Wish


honoring Emely Valencia

Emely and her family have been fighting her illness through the battle of kemotherapy, but still manages to smile at everything she wakes up too. Emely definitely has the strongest spirit towards life, which is truly admirable!!! 

 

She gets excited when she hears the sound of a strummed guitar.

She smiles because she’s sharing her love. 

She laughs when you laugh.

She hugs because she can feel. 

She is strong because she has hope.

3rd Annual Dance For A Wish


honoring Ryan Spink

3rd Annual "Dance For A Wish", a fundraiser benefitting Make-A-Wish San Diego. Dancers from Southern California come together to inspire and change lives through the art of dance. 2011’s Adopted Wish Child is Ryan Spink who was suffering through chronic brain seizures and endured a life-threatening brain surgery in March 2011. Her wish is to visit Italy with her family, which will be granted in September 2014. All money raised from "Dance For A Wish" goes to Make-A-Wish San Diego, and in adopting the OTD Wish Child's wish.

Ryan is a smart, funny, big hearted loveable young lady who's faced many challenges and experiences that makes her wise beyond her years. Ryan's inseparable from family especially her sister Sydney. She considers family "her everything."


Before her illness her favorite activity was going to The Sophia Isodora Academy of Circus Arts. Learning lira, silk rope, rolla bolla, contortion, partner balancing, tumbling and comedy acts.


On March 16, 2011 she embarked a ten hour surgery to  remove her tumor. Her brain tumor was benign. Now she is 100% seizure free post-surgery with medication.


Ryan feels it is an honor and a privilege to be a Make-A-Wish kid. She is hopeful that her wish will be granted so she can help other kids and teens with epilepsy in memory and tribute to her best friend Carley Eissman (19) who died unexpectedly as a result of a seizure on April 28, 2010. This is through the "Friends of Carley Eissman Fund" and Teen Advocates for Epilepsy group,  two projects that Ryan started to help her community.


Ryan ultimately wants to go to 4 year college to study film.  She also aspires to be a film maker, documentary and feature films and own film production studio with sister Sydney "Spink Sister Productions"

4th Annual Dance For A Wish


honoring Tehya Foussat

The 4th Annual "Dance For A Wish", a fundraiser benefitting Make-A-Wish San Diego. Dancers from Southern California come together to inspire and change lives through the art of dance. 2012’s Adopted Wish Child is Tehya Tatiana Foussat who suffers through a severe form of spina bifida and has survived through numerous surgeries throughout her life. Her wish was to produce an athletic event called "TEHYAthon" to bring athletes and supporters of all walks of life to celebrate with a 5K Run, Inspiration Walk, and Celebration Concert which was held on April 2013. All money raised from "Dance For A Wish" goes to Make-A-Wish San Diego, and in adopting the OTD Wish Child's wish.

Tehya was born with the most severe form of Spina Bifida. Lipomyelomeningocele occurs when the spinal cord is exposed through an opening in the vertebrae resulting in partial or complete paralysis of parts of the body. The paralysis may be so severe that the affected individual is unable to walk, and he or she may have other issues affecting neurological function.

Although she tires much easier now and the painful progression of Spina Bifida continues to cause more dysfunction and loss, Tehya won't have it any other way. "All I want to do is be a cheerleader and to tumble again. I want to do it as much as I can - for as long my body lets me."

Tehya has since then started an event called Tehyathon which missions is to raise funds to help research Spina Bifida and the many related complex medical conditions often associated with this illness. Along with creating and maintaining an online database of medical and community support resources for patients and their families, Tehyathon has plans to produce an annual conference where the many different medical specialists and surgeons can gather and share their knowledge and new techniques with each other, with their patients, and with their families.

To find out more on Tehya’s story or how to get involved with Tehyathon go to :

5th Annual Dance For A Wish


honoring Gage Miller

The 5th Annual "Dance For A Wish", a fundraiser benefitting Make-A-Wish San Diego. Dancers from Southern California come together to inspire and change lives through the art of dance. 2013’s Adopted Wish Child is Gage Miller  who suffers from DiGeorge Syndrome.  His wish was to meet Justin Bieber and at the dance show he got a surprise video greeting from him. All money raised from "Dance For A Wish" goes to Make-A-Wish San Diego, and in adopting the OTD Wish Child's wish.



Gage was born on August 20 1995.  He was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot which has to do with his hart and DiGeorge Syndrome which is a rare genetic disorder.  Gage had his first surgery at USD when he was 3 days old.  Since then he has had 6 heart surgeries. He lost his Grandpa in 2007 which was really hard for him they were best buddies.  This last two years have really been hard on him he had heart surgery in 2012 and then in 2013 he had to have emergency surgery to replace the valve which was infected from a viral infection.  We spent December 3rd until December 24th in the hospital in LA and they transported us home on the 24th so he could spend Christmas in San Diego.  Gage is such an amazing young man he never complains always has a positive attitude and is such a giving and caring person.  He takes pride in being in ROTC and wearing his uniform and singing in the Choir at school (no microphone please maybe voice lessons)