South Florida Sun Sentinel
May 18, 2021 2:52 PM
Make-A-Wish Southern Florida recently granted 12-year-old Boca Raton resident Giovanna Camarotti Daldalto’s wish to meet dolphins. (Make-A-Wish Southern Florida/Courtesy)
Make-A-Wish Southern Florida recently granted Boca Raton resident Giovanna Camarotti Daldalto’s wish to swim with the dolphins.
Giovanna, a 12-year-old with a nervous system disorder, met dolphins in the lagoon at Dolphins Plus Bayside in Key Largo. As part of a five-day adventure, she and her family enjoyed a one-of-a-kind vacation, including the feeding of sharks and sea lions.
Giovanna and her family with a Dolphins Plus trainer watch a dolphin jump out of the water. (Make-A-Wish Southern Florida/Courtesy)
“This was her true heartfelt wish,” Make-A-Wish Southern Florida COO Richard Kelly said. “She loves everything about the water. She surfs with her dad. So water activities are right at the top of her list. When she decided she wanted to do a Keys adventure, which included the dolphin encounter, we knew that was her true heartfelt wish. So, we started working with our partners down in the Keys to make her wish happen.
“What we believe and what Wish families have told us is this is necessary to the physical and emotional well-being of the Wish kids and their parents,” he said. “You can see Giovanna’s wish is a shining example of that. It wasn’t just something nice; she went down to the Keys and had a dolphin encounter. It’s beneficial for her well-being to have that wish granted. What we hear from Wish kids that have had their wishes granted years ago or decades ago is that a wish is a turning point in the child’s trajectory of dealing with their illness.”
During the encounter, Giovanna and her family got the opportunity to go nose-to-nose with dolphins from a platform that was lowered into the water. The family also got to enjoy tricks performed by the dolphins.
Make-A-Wish Southern Florida recently granted 12-year-old Boca Raton resident Giovanna Camarotti Daldalto’s wish to meet dolphins. (Make-A-Wish Southern Florida/Courtesy)
Offering an array of encounters, Dolphins Plus aims at providing an unforgettable experience for its guests, while maintaining high safety standards for its animals. Dolphins Plus works in close association with its stranding network Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder and the Southeast Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
“Dolphins Plus is excellent partners with us,” Kelly said. “They work with children with special needs so they know the drill. They know what we’re looking for. They know how to create an encounter that’s isn’t like every other encounter you’re just paying for off the streets. They work really diligently with the family, with the child to make sure this is an experience tailor-made for them and special.”
Since 1983, Make-A-Wish Southern Florida has granted nearly 13,000 life-changing wishes for children who have critical illnesses. Its territory includes 22 counties and four regions in southeast and southwest Florida, on the Suncoast and in the Tampa Bay area. Make-A-Wish Southern Florida also serves the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Giovanna and her family interact with a Dolphins Plus trainer. (Make-A-Wish Southern Florida/Courtesy)
Make-A-Wish Southern Florida, which has struggled to grant wishes over the past year due to COVID-19, aims to grant a wish for every medically eligible child in its territory.
“Generally, in the COVID era, some of the wishes have been put on hold,” Kelly said. “They’ve been postponed because it’s just not safe to do so. So we’ve had to put some wishes like travel wishes, large-group gatherings, some of those types of wishes on hold because the safety of the children is paramount to us. But there are some wishes we can still grant and Giovanna’s was one of them.”
