At just 10 years old, John Wandishin was diagnosed with adult leukemia.
Shortly after he received a bone marrow transplant.
His oldest sister was the perfect match, but the treatment was short-lived.
"He had relapsed, so it was only 8 months of like normalcy," says Kathy Wandishin.
After he relapsed the family returned to John's Hopkins Hospital to learn what their options were.
"We had another transplant, Krissy again was his donor, and that began four years of up and down up and down."
John went on to live longer than doctors or anyone expected him to, and through those years he chose to remain happy.
"As the years rolled by we did what we could, we had fun as a family, we took trips, we did as much as we could to celebrate that he was with us," says Kathy.
John stayed in school, graduating in the 8th grade and going on to Archbishop Curly High School, living as close to a normal life as possible despite the physical challenges he was experiencing.
But then when his health began to decline further, John and his family knew the end of his life was near.
So he made a bucket list, and the family worked to check off everything on the list they could.
He died in 2005, just before his 16th birthday, and decades later, his mom crossed off one more thing on that list.
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