Spiking it for Travis (Make A Wish Volleyball Tournament)

It's that time of year again! Let's give kids some much needed joy during a tough time in their lives. That's what Make A Wish did for our son.

Travis was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2002 at the age of 12. When he was a senior at UConn, he was found unconscious on his dorm room floor. He was brought to Windham Hospital where a scan showed that the tumor caused a bleed in his brain. This was the beginning of his third and last fight for his life. He passed away at the age of 23.

In 2003, Make A Wish granted Travis a wish. At this point, he was so sick from his chemo treatments, that at the age of 14, he was down to 80 pounds. To try to keep him from losing any more weight, he was hooked up intravenously to a TPN pack which was loaded with calories 12 hours a day, in addition to the 4 to 6 hours on intravenous fluids for dehydration. This was an incredibly tough time for him. He was determined to still live life his way and not let this horrible disease change the person he was, and he continued to play the sports he loved so much. But this would take a toll on even the strongest of people

Travis loved sports, especially baseball! Make A Wish arranged a 7-day trip to the West Coast. We went to the stadiums of the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, and Oakland A’s, which included a tour of the stadiums and being on the field during batting practice meeting some players! Mike Cameron of the Seattle Mariners brought Travis into the clubhouse where he met 5 all-star players! He also threw out the first pitch at the San Francisco Giants’ game! In Oakland, Tim Hudson (pitcher) brought Travis around the field to meet players.

This trip was a much-needed reprieve for Travis from his treatments, and provided all of us with precious memories that mean so much to us, especially now that Travis is no longer with us.

We started participating that very same year in Make A Wish’s Ocean Beach Volleyball Tournament; and we have participated every year since then except when it was cancelled due to the pandemic. The Spiking it for Travis team will be on the beach again on Sunday, June 2nd!

We would greatly appreciate it if you would share this with your family and friends. Any amount of donations will go towards giving other children something to look forward to besides treatments.

I know that Travis is with us each and every day and appreciates our efforts in being a part of making other wishes come true!

Hugs and love… the Brennans (Pictured is Travis with his sisters, Shalini and Brianne, at the last tournament he was with us)