San Ramon Cancer Survivor, Make-A-Wish Recipient Pays It Forward

SAN RAMON, CA — Kenny Yee, of San Ramon, was 2 years old when doctors diagnosed him with a form of blood cancer. His white blood cells mutated and attacked his internal organs, almost causing them to fail.

He had a new ear infection every month and still has some scarring from a rash on his back that spread across his whole body. His parents sought prayers from all over.

Now, thanks to 13 months of chemotherapy, the California High School grad is in his 15th year of remission.

"It was terrible," Yee said. "By a miracle, I was blessed."

Yee was too young to recall the visit, but he became a "Wish Kid" at 4 years old when the Make-A-Wish Foundation — an organization that seeks to make wishes come true for kids with critical illnesses — made it possible for his family to see a San Francisco Giants ballgame. If there was any tension that day between his mom, an Oakland native and A's fan, and his dad, a San Francisco native and Giants fan, you couldn't tell from the photos. Yee and his parents, smiling and decked out in black and orange, posed for photos in the dugout and seating section.

"Make-A-Wish has been part of my life since I could remember," he said.

Earlier this year, Yee's mom received an email from a Make-A-Wish board member asking if the Yees would be interested in paying another visit to the park. Yee, his family and his best friend Brett Douglas — a fellow Cal High grad and Make-A-Wish Kid who had a heart transplant at a young age — headed back for a Giants game this summer, along with other Make-A-Wish families. Yee scored a backpack, baseball caps and a couple of bobbleheads.

Make-A-Wish reached out to Yee again a month later to ask if he'd help promote and participate in the organization's annual Brave the Bay event, a San Francisco fundraiser. He shared his story live on KTVU, walked a 5K and squared off with fellow Wish Kids against a team of San Francisco Police Department officers in a competition to pull buses in the pouring rain.

"They completely smoked us," he said, laughing.

Yee said he was grateful for the opportunity to be the poster child for the event. Make-A-Wish does wonderful work and he hopes more people are willing to donate to the cause, he said.

He's happy to attend Make-A-Wish events and promote its good work. But Yee has dreams of his own.

He hopes to start a foundation, buy an island, and fly low-income families with terminally ill children on private jets for a free vacation in paradise for the last months of the child's life.

It's a pricey dream, but it's one of the ways he wants fulfill his duty to "bring hope and light" to those who have dealt with worse suffering, Yee said.

"It makes me really sad to know that there are children who never get to see past 10 years of age," he said. "If I can use my platform and my voice to help bring in more funding for these children, then why would I not do that, right?"

Donate to Make-A-Wish's Brave the Bay fundraiser here.