HUBBARD - Despite battling their own life-threatening illnesses, two Hubbard siblings stick to a motto of helping others also battling challenging health conditions.
"Once a year, our only wish is to grant a wish,'' the brother and sister said.
Ricky and Mackenzie Pasco hold a fundraiser each October to generate money to help grant Make-A-Wish wishes for local ill children.
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Ricky, 14, an eighth-grader who is homeschooled, and Mackenzie, 10, a fourth-grader who attends Roosevelt Elementary School, have both themselves had their wishes granted by a Make-A-Wish. Both went to Walt Disney World in Florida, him in 2009, her in 2010.
Ricky said he chose his Make-A-Wish thinking of his sister, who wanted to see the castles and the princesses. Mackenzie's wish was for her brother so he could see the roller coasters there.
"They chose their wishes thinking of each other," their mother, Kim Pasco, said.
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Mackenzie Pasco
The fundraiser called the Ricky Mack Giving Back Make-A-Wish Fundraiser has been held for the past three years. The event includes a deejay, raffles, games, entertainment and food.
"We had so much fun for our Make-A-Wish wishes that we wanted to help other kids get their wishes and have as much fun as we did," Mackenzie said.
Kim said local businesses help with the effort with cans placed at different locations to collect donations in the fall. The community of Hubbard pulls together and supports the effort, she said.
Fact Box
Ricky Pasco
Age: 14
COMMUNITY:?Hubbard resident for seven years
Activities / memberships: CSL Plasma ambassador for Akron Children Hospital
Mackenzie Pasco
Age: 10
COMMUNITY:?Hubbard resident for seven years
Activities / memberships: CSL plasma ambassador for Akron Children Hospital, Book Club at Hubbard Elementary School.
The children had their wishes granted by V&M Star and Warren Harley-Davidson as well as many other supporting businesses and groups.
The average Make-A-Wish costs $6,000. Kim said the first year's fundraiser raised $5,000, which was used to help offset the costs for several children's wishes. The second year raised $7,300 that helped a girl named Ava in Canfield with leukemia. This past year raised $6,378 to help a girl from Girard.
In three years, the siblings have raised more than $18,300.
''I always let the local media know how much money we raised for Make-A-Wish. When I saw the Community Stars category (on the Tribune Chronicle Virtual Newsroom website) I put the information in,'' Kim said.
Ricky said he and his sister both have CVID, an immune deficiency since birth. The two are infused with plasma once a week. He was diagnosed in 2008 and Mackenzie two weeks before that.
Kim said her children each have 70 percent of the immune system that the average person has.
Their father, Rick Pasco, said that most people's immune systems are made up of four parts, but Ricky and Mackenzie only have the first two. Their bodies are not capable of fighting off diseases, he said.
"This is why this is so life-threatening," he said.
Ricky is homeschooled over concern of injuries and germs, and both children must be careful if they do something as simple as riding their bikes because even a cut is dangerous, Rick said.
The two get infused with donated CSL plasma at Akron Children's Hospital. Ricky and Mackenzie have become ambassadors for the hospital's plasma center, where they speak to and thank the doors who helped save their lives.
"They tell the donors by donating blood they are able to make the medicine to save their lives," Rick said.
Kim said it is nice that the donors actually get to see someone whose life they are helping to save.
"The biggest thing for them is they want other children to be able to experience what they did,'' Kim said. ''They know how much their wishes meant to them and changed their lives. They want other kids who are facing what they are facing to get to be a kid for a week and not worry about what illness they have or going to to the doctor.
"They met Make-A-Wish families from all over the world at Disney World. You looked past everyone's illnesses. We were like one big family," Kim said.
The Pascos said they are proud of their children.
"They want to give to help others. They are heroes," she said.