Rexburg boy with brain tumor makes selfless wish

“It was pretty devastating,” said Daylene Walker as she recounts the day she learned her 17-year-old son, Josh Walker, had a life-threatening brain tumor.

“It was one of those days where I felt like my world completely stopped,” Daylene Walker said.

“They told me that I had several lesions in my brain, and they weren’t quite sure what they were,” Josh Walker said.

The next few months would bring a whirlwind of changes for Josh Walker and his family, with time spent away from home while he underwent treatment. They also had to sanitize the entire house.

Then his mother had a bright idea. She contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation and they agreed to grant a wish for Josh Walker.

“We got to tell Josh that he was going to have a wish granted and then it was fun for our whole family to kind of dream about, ‘Oh, what is he gonna wish for?’ And we came up with a lot of really selfish wishes,” Daylene Walker said.

But Josh Walker’s wish proved selfless: playing secret Santa for his family and giving them the Christmas of their dreams.

“My family had done so much for me during chemo and I knew that money would be tight with all the cost of treatment, so I wanted to do something for them,” Josh Walker said.

Josh Walker kept the whole thing a secret until Christmas Day, when he appeared in full Santa suit with sackloads of gifts.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas and it was just so memorable. We’ll never forget,” said Daylene Walker.

But this Christmas the Walker family has even more cause for celebration.

Josh Walker was declared in remission earlier this year and will live to see his next Christmas.