COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A&M is welcoming an honorary family to Aggieland this weekend. With the help of the Make-a-Wish Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana chapter alongside the Texas A&M Foundation, the Williams family will receive the full Aggie experience.
“I feel like a little kid in a candy store,” said Parker Major Williams, a Make-a-Wish child and participant.
Like all Aggie traditions, Parker Major Williams' love for A&M is a passion that’s been passed down.
”My dad has been an A&M fan since probably ’80s, '90s, I think. He’s been a die-hard A&M fan and I was raised as a die-hard A&M fan,” said Major.
Major dreams of attending A&M’s pre-med program, but due to his battle with leukemia, he is staying close to home.
”This is a great weekend to do this- being family weekend, one of our proudest and long-standing traditions at Texas A&M," said Tom Pool, vice president of engagement for Texas A&M Foundation. "We celebrate all Aggie families, and so we consider Major and his family 'fightin' Texas Aggies', and they're going to see and feel that this weekend.”
It will be an eventful tail end of the week starting with a warm welcome from coach Gary Blair, participating in ring day, and topping it off by joining coach Jimbo Fisher on the sideline during the spring game.
”The intention with the wish- I mean wishes are not just a nice thing you do, wishes have a healing component to it," said Shelly Millwee, chief mission and strategy officer for the Make-A-Wish Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana chapter. "When you tell a kid you get to go to Disney World in six months and that's their ultimate dream, they have something to look forward to.”
Although the pandemic pushed his wish back, Major says he’s happy no one gave up and that gave him the hope to keep fighting.
“It was just always this, never anything different. This was the only thing I could think of, and it kept getting postponed and postponed because of COVID. People at Make-A-Wish asked me if I wanted to change it and I said 'absolutely not',” he said.
The Make-A-Wish Gulf Coast and Louisiana chapter has granted over 200 wishes since last June -- and has set a goal to provide at least 500 wishes by August this year.
To learn more about the local Make-A-Wish chapter, visit https://wish.org/texgulf.