| The
following appeared August 10, 2009 in the
Boy meets robot; wish comes
true.
By Brian Haas
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 10, 2009
BOCA RATON - Little George was
all eyes, mouth agape, as the 4-year-old came face to face with his
favorite thing in the whole world. " Wall-E," the little
robot chirped.
"It's cool," George said, astonished.
George Jacobs is a little boy from Washington,
N.J., who was born with a form of cancer called neuroblastoma. At 5
months, he had to have a large tumor removed from behind his liver.
He's had a kidney removed. They think it's in remission now.
But Sunday, none of that mattered. The Make-A-Wish
Foundation had wanted to give George an experience he'd never forget.
When they asked him what he wanted a few months ago, he replied,
"I wanna see Wall-E."
Perplexed, the family turned to the Internet, where
they found Rick Newman. Newman has an astonishing collection of robots
at his Boca Raton home. He has an original Robby the Robot from Lost
in Space, the B9 from Forbidden Planet, R2-D2, and a host of smaller
robots.
Most importantly, he had Wall-E, just like the star
of the animated film that won an Oscar.
The Jacobs family mom, dad and twin brother Thomas
flew to Florida last week, spent Saturday at Kennedy Space Center.
They'll spend Monday at Disney World.
But George's priorities were elsewhere.
"Wall-E. That's all he has been talking about.
He's been counting down the days," said his mother, Betsy Jacobs.
"Last night he didn't want to go to sleep."
George finally got his wish. He hung out with
Wall-E and his robot girlfriend, Eve. And he played with dozens of
robots, remote-controlled vehicles and a train set Newman had put
together.
"It's the best thing in the world,"
Newman said, watching George and Thomas play. "This is exactly
why I do what I do."
After playtime was over, George and his brother
were given dozens of gifts: a Wall-E bed set and sunglasses, robotic
bugs and, of course, a Wall-E robot of his own.
When asked what his favorite robot or toy was out
of the hundreds at Newman's house, George didn't hesitate. "I
like the Wall-E one," he said.
Click
Here to see pictures of the "Make A Wish" event.
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