By Holly Toal
The Journal-Register
ALBION —
The best wishes are made possible with the help of family, friends, and even strangers.
Over the past couple months, those close to Amber Liese have been joined by people from various business and organizations in Western New York to make over her bedroom as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s mission to grant wishes to children and teens with life-threatening medical conditions.
Amber, 18, of Albion, has been battling cancer for three years and has been involved with Make-A-Wish for just as long. Her wish was to have her bedroom, which she shares with her sister, Valerie, 20, made over with new furniture and a whole new look.
That wish was granted Thursday afternoon when the new room was unveiled.
“It was really exciting,” she said after she got over the shock of seeing her room for the first time. “I was afraid to open my eyes because I knew I’d be really excited.”
“I’m happy that everything is put together; everything looks really good,” she continued. “I’m excited to invite my friends over — they’re gonna be really jealous,” she joked.
Mom Karen Liese said the room came out perfect.
“I think she’ll cherish it for a long time,” Karen said. “It’s just what she wanted, and she wanted to include her sister.”
Amber, who starts at Genesee Community College on Monday, said she may be keeping her room at that house for a long time. “My dad says I never have to move out ... I don’t think I will, now,” she said. Amber has enrolled in the nursing program at GCC because, she said, “I wanted to give back, to help others the way people have helped me.”
Sister Valerie is a student at Finger Lakes Community College and lives with family in that area during the school year. She usually comes home a couple of weekends a month; however, she explained that now that the room has been made over, her visits may be getting more frequent.
Reconstruction of the room began a couple of months ago when dad Brian Liese began knocking down the wall that separated the girls’ rooms. Then, workers from the Batavia Home Depot came in and laid out the hardwood floors with donated materials and manpower.
Scott Gayton of Scott’s Fresh Coat Painting Company in Oakfield also donated his time and materials to paint the walls.
Next came the decor.
Amber was picked up in a limousine and taken to Buffalo to shop for Broyhill furniture at Rosa’s Home Stores. Both Broyhill Furniture and Rosa’s donated furniture, televisions, mattresses and other items to complete the room.
“I picked out everything,” said Amber; the furniture, televisions, color scheme, layout. She picked a pink and teal color palette, with black and white accents, because Amber likes pink and her sister likes teal. She said she got most of the design ideas from looking at magazines, and that she was going for a chic, clean look.
“I wanted it to be like our own apartment,” she said.
Broyhill Furniture recently partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help make room makeover wishes come true. The company has committed to helping grant 50 wishes, and Amber’s wish was No. 8.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation has been a part of Amber’s life since she was 15, when she was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer. It originated in her femur, and Amber had her knee replaced and went through chemotherapy treatment to kill the cancer. After that, she had a 99 percent cure rate and was considered to be in “remission.” However, a year later, Amber was rediagnosed when it was discovered that the cancer had metastasized in her lungs.
She had to start another round of treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation.
“They did really high doses of radiation,” she said. Those treatments ended in June and Amber has been doing well since.
While the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s goal is to grant a child’s wish within six months, it took a little longer to make Amber’s wish come true, as the room makeover is actually her fourth attempt at a wish.
Her first wish was to take a land and sea cruise at Disney, but she got sick and the trip had to be canceled. Next, Amber made a wish to go to Hawaii, but at the last minute it was determined that she wasn’t well enough to fly. Her third wish was to go on a shopping spree, but she got sick again. Her next wish — the current one — was to have her room made over, which Amber says is actually the best of all her wishes.
“I get to keep everything,” she explained. “I get to experience it every day. I get to keep the furniture for the rest of my life, and eventually take it to my apartment.”
Cheryl Unger, vice president of program services for the local chapter of Make-A-Wish, and volunteers Mary Patterson and Jon Langfitt have been working with Amber through the long haul.
“They’ve become like my family,” said Amber. “It’s a joy to see them. ... They try to make the illness a positive. They try to give you something to look forward to.”
And that’s is exactly what Amber said she has needed.
“I think happiness and positive energy cures you faster,” she explained,
“I can’t say enough about them,” mom Karen said of the foundation. “They were on top of everything.”
The Liese family has lived in their Albion home for more than 20 years, and both Amber and Valerie attended the Kendall Central School District; Amber graduated just last spring.
And now that they have a new room, it seems unlikely that the family will be going anywhere soon.
“Thank you, Make-A-Wish, for making my wish come true, and for a beautiful room,” Amber said.
Contact editor Holly Toal at 798-1400, ext. 8225.
