HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — To cap off a week’s worth of fundraising for Make A Wish, a local high school not only put on a professional wrestling show for a boy with cancer, they also helped him become a wrestler himself.
Chad Isaacs is 6 years old and has both ganglioneuroblastoma, tumors that develop in nerve tissue, and a congenital myopathy, a neuromuscular disorder. He also loves professional wrestling.
“He has been a wrestling fan since 1 years old,” his grandmother told Denver7.
Chad was the “wish kid” that was the poster child for “Wish Week” at Mountain Vista High School. Students held a variety of fundraisers throughout the week, with the proceeds going to Make A Wish Colorado to grant wishes like Chad’s, who wants to become a professional wrestler.
At the Friday assembly at Mountain Vista, Make A Wish brought in a local professional wrestling company to put on a show for Chad. Rocky Mountain Pro brought in a ring and donated their performers’ time.
“We brought the whole crew and gave it everything we had today,” owner Matthew Yaden said.
Chad, whose wrestling persona is “The Wish Warrior,” met wrestlers backstage, posed for pictures, and opened a variety of gifts. The 6-year-old then sat front row for the show as hundreds of students cheered on the wrestlers in the school gymnasium. Just when the big match appeared to be over, it was Chad’s turn to shine.
“I said 'you want to get in there?' And he said 'yeah!'” Yaden described.
Due to recent surgery and casts on both his legs, Chad was carried into the ring as the student body chanted his name. The Wish Warrior made his wrestling debut, and with the help of Yaden, knocked his opponent out of the ring and through a nearby table as students cheered. That move gave Chad the win and the adulation of the cheering crowd.
"I won!" he told Denver7 after the match.
“Words can’t explain. I’m just so excited for him,” Chad’s dad said.
“It was an honor. It was a privilege. It was hands down the greatest thing I’ve been blessed to do in my life,” Yaden said.
“It’s the triumph of the human spirit in its smallest form because he’s so tiny,” Stacie Winslow of Make A Wish Colorado said. “What he gave to everyone today was nothing short of miraculous.”
Chad was presented with a giant trophy for winning the match. Videos were played on the big screen of professional WWE superstars specifically made for him. He was also named as the first member of Rocky Mountain Pro’s new hall of fame.
And that’s just the beginning. The Wish Warrior was then told that his wish of becoming a professional wrestler was going to be granted, thanks to the WWE. His family will be flown to an upcoming event where he will sign a WWE contract, meet the company’s wrestlers, and watch a live show.
