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  • Jacob Kueker, 9, points out the cool stuff inside a limousine outside Woodlawn Grade School on Saturday. Kueker, who has cystic fibrosis, had his wish for a shopping spree to Fairview Heights granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. RORYE O’CONNOR/REGISTER-NEWS

    Make a wish
January 9, 2012

Make-A-Wish granted for local boy

By RORYE O’CONNOR rorye.oconnor@register-news.com

MT. VERNON —  On Friday at school, Jacob Kueker, 9,  is a ball of energy. Friday night, he can’t sleep a wink.

Finally, Saturday comes, and after he and his fellow fifth-graders win a basketball game, Jacob and his family clamber in a limousine to go to Fairview Heights on a shopping spree.

Jacob had his wish granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to grant the wishes of children with chronic or fatal diseases.

Jacob, the youngest of three children in the Kueker family, has cystic fibrosis. He does twice-daily breathing treatments to help him do everyday activities.

“He didn’t sleep at all last night,” said Leslie Kueker, Jacob’s mother. “His teacher said yesterday he was bouncing!”

Jacob took his best friend, Elijah Mongomery, brother, Noah Kueker, sister, Betsy Kueker, parents Greg and Leslie Kueker, and grandmother Brenda Segelken on his shopping spree, along with wish granters Sherry Smith and Darlene Copple.

Greg Kueker said Jacob wanted to go to the St. Louis Bread Company, Best Buy, GameStop, and several department stores, as well as Mr. Bulky’s Candy Store.

Jacob said he felt really good, though a little nervous, because he’d never been in a limousine before.

He had many ideas before he settled on shopping spree — a game room in his house, a fireman’s pole from his room to the living room, getting to experience curling and visiting the Statue of Liberty were a few of his ideas.

He had a couple items he was looking forward to buying.

“I still haven’t chose my furniture,” he said. “I want an iPad 2 with a keyboard, a camera, clothes. I’m excited. I haven’t rode in a limousine. I thought about a Hummer, but they don’t have a Hummer, oh well. At least it’s a stretch limo!”

Segelken said Jacob likes electronics and games because he can pass the time while he is doing his breathing treatments.

Jacob’s parents said they were happy with how the Make-A-Wish Foundation works.

“We’d been encouraged for several years by Cardinal Glennon (Hospital) to apply,” Greg Kueker said. “We went on the Web site and went to apply. I was really excited, maybe a little overwhelmed. I know he was overwhelmed... Make-A-Wish told us to dream big.”

Leslie Kueker said the process of having Jacob’s wish granted went faster than she thought it would be, about five months.

“The process was really smooth,” she said. “We didn’t realize there were wish granters in Mt. Vernon, that’s what I was really excited about. ... They give the kids an opportunity to brainstorm, and helped us to decide which idea he would really enjoy.”

Sherry Smith, wish captain for the Southern Illinois region, said it typically takes about six to nine months to organize a wish for a qualifying child.

Smith said working with the organization is very rewarding, especially being able to reflect on the memories of making a child’s day.

“I am pumped up,” she said. “I’ll be pumped up for a couple days. It’s what makes it all worthwhile.”

She said the Make-A-Wish Foundation is looking for more wish granters in the Southern Illinois area. Anyone who would like to sign up may visit wishes.org/volunteering.

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