Accomplish MN: WCCO Helps Grant Gabe's Make-A-Wish Dream

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – WCCO is trying to raise 20 million airline miles to grant wishes of kids around the state for Make-A-Wish Minnesota, and we're having a little fun in the process!

WCCO is holding a #Race4Wishes around the Twin Cities. WCCO TV's Kylie Bearse and WCCO Radio's John Williams will compete against WCCO TV's Matt Brickman and 12-year-old Gabe from Vadnais Heights is the other team.

Gabe is as competitive a kid as you'll find. His calendar is filled with sports year round.

His favorite sports?

"Probably hockey, baseball, soccer too. I love those three for sure," Gabe said.

He's used to being on the move, but last spring something started to slow him down.

"Last year in April, I had about a golf ball sized lump in my neck," he said.

Doctors did surgery, and ruled out cancer.

"It came back benign," Gabe's dad, Tim, said. "I just thought OK, just a weird lump, nothing to be overly concerned about. Then, about three weeks later it came back."

"I had another lump about the size of a baseball all summer long, and it was growing rapidly," Gabe said. "I had surgery and they found out that it was Burkitt's Lymphoma."

Gabe spent all summer with this growth on his neck, playing baseball. But the Lymphoma diagnosis stuck him in a hospital bed.

"It was hard," Gabe said. "It was really hard to not be able to do a lot of the things that I like to. I didn't want to do much. And I couldn't go to school either, which was a big thing."

But the kid who loves to compete met this new challenge head on.

"We were terrified," Tim said. "And really, I do think that Gabe made this process easier for everyone."

Gabe stayed upbeat through four months of treatment and then, finally, some good news.

"In December his PET scan showed that he was cancer free," Christy, Gabe's mom, said. "That was our Christmas present. I didn't need anything else."

Out of the hospital, Gabe could start recovering and start competing again. Just a few weeks getting a clean bill of health, Gabe was back on the ice.

"It was a lot of fun to be able to get back on skates, skate around, shoot a puck," Gabe said. "It was just fun to be able to feel what hockey kind of was like, again."

A Wish Granted

On Wednesday, Gabe was part of an "Amazing Race"-style competition. He was teamed up with Matt Brickman, and the two went head-to-head against Kylie Bearse and John Williams.

The day took them to the Mall of America and to Mariucci Arena, where Gabe took to the ice wearing his own Golden Gophers jersey.

But the big surprise came later. Gabe learned that, with the help of Make-A-Wish Minnesota, he was going to the Super Bowl.

To see his reaction, watch the video below.

How You Can Help

Like Gabe's wish, many of those granted by Make-A-Wish involve air travel. If you'd like to help make wishes come true, you can donate airline miles here.