Make-A-Wish’s April Stallings Illuminates the ‘Whys’ of Gaming: Joy, Well-being, and Connection, Part 2

Essentially, what we do is we make sure that it's truly a gift. That means no strings attached. It really is driven by the child, you know. It's not for the parents. It's specifically for what the child wants and needs at that moment. It's really about the why of why that child wants what they want. I'm really proud of the way that we do it.—April Stallings

This week’s Player Driven Design Desk wraps up its exchange with April Stallings, Charitable Gaming and Creators Community Manager at Make-A-Wish International. Stallings was a recent guest on the podcast, and she shared some amazing, heart-wrenching stories, as well as insights about how Make-A-Wish and Make-A-Wish International have made 650,000+ wishes of critically ill kids come true. Last week, we focused on these nonprofits’ programs that directly intersect the video game industry (studios, publishers, streamers/creators, etc.). This week, we’ll take a step back from video games—although the topic surfaces here too —and consider how Make-A-Wish does what it does in a broader context.

During our discussion, Stallings told us—Player Driven’s founder, Greg Posner, and I joined her on the August podcast—that she’d recently been supporting wish children who’d wanted to attend the Esports World Cup in Paris that month. This event, which lasted several weeks and attracted 2+ million people, featured some 2,000 pro players of 24 different video games that competed for their share of a record $75+ million prize pool.

The Esports World Cup team “really rolled out the red carpet for the kids, gave them a white glove, behind the scenes kind of experience,” Stallings told us.

It must have been incredible.

It’s hard to believe that it all began with a seven-year-old boy, Christopher, who was living with leukemia in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1980, and wanted to know what it was like to be a highway patrolman for a day. His mother made that happen and, as they say—often without appreciating the amount of work involved—the rest is history.

“The idea quickly caught on globally,” Stallings said. “These children, who are living with critical illnesses” can “really benefit from the hope, the joy, the kind of, like, special magic that's created by a wish.”

We’ll offer some objective evidence that this “special magic” exists below.

That magic, by the way, is also entirely free for wish children and their families.

“We pay for all of it,” Stallings confirmed. “Any equipment, the trip, all of it.”

“That's what I do is I fundraise to cover the cost of that.”

In addition to their families, “when one of our children travels, it also comes with medical equipment, medical care, support, adaptive equipment, special accommodations, all that kind of stuff.”

“They are not a patient on this trip,” she said firmly. “They are a child, building memories with their family, enjoying quality time together. We try to remove as many barriers as possible.”

“We're in 43 countries,” Stallings elaborated. “When a child goes from point A to point B, they're gonna be welcomed there by the local Make-A-Wish team. If something happens on the ground, they've got the support on the ground.”

“Greece had some horrible wildfires a couple years ago,” she recalled.

“We had a family…on their wish trip from another country to Greece, right in the middle of the wildfire zone.”

“It disrupted their trip, but the Make A-Wish Greece team was on the ground, coming up with alternatives, accommodating them, you know, making sure that their experience still happened in some form or another despite the natural disaster.”

“That's also the beautiful thing about us, is that we are truly in” scores of countries “and that we have on-the-ground teams. Volunteers that help children…[from] when they land there. It still makes them feel like there's a lifeline and a resource. They're not on their own.”

Not on their own. That about sums it up.

Last week’s post included a quote from a “wish alumni” that was cited in a 2022 study produced by Make-A-Wish (the U.S.-based nonprofit). A pair of similar quotes from this Impact of a Wish survey seem apropos, as they underscore the often lasting impacts of wishes:

I think in looking back on my son's cancer/treatment/recovery, the wish trip is in many ways more memorable than his sickness...even 8 years later we have more memories of his wish trip and the fun we had together as a family then we do of the illness.—James, wish dad

My child is now 25 and we still constantly talk about [his wish]. When he is hurting, he imagines being on the island. It’s his happy place.—Marian, wish mom

Let’s travel to some more, well, sometimes-happy-sometimes-sad places, shall we?

Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and share this!

The Positive Impacts of Granted Wishes, Quantified and Incalculable

What we do is a very personalized service. For some charities, you know, the power is in the reach, the numbers, the aggregate of who they can support and help. For us, it's in the quality, the experience, the journey. The individualization of what we do is really the power of each wish.—April Stallings

“The logistics may be scalable,” I said at one point during Player Driven’s August podcast with April Stallings, Charitable Gaming and Creators Community Manager at Make-A-Wish International. But “each individual wish, it's not scalable. And I don't mean that in any bad way. It's just—"

Stallings nodded and interrupted me.

“We call it the ‘Wish Journey.’ We take these families on this whole journey that's designed around the principles of positive psychology. And it's really tailored to focus on mental well-being, physical well-being.”

Make-A-Wish’s research, Stallings continued, shows that “the medical outcomes for a child who receives a wish are higher, more positive, more healing, for lack of a better word, than a child who does not have a wish.”

“That's why we are so keen to make sure that we reach every available child. But it is an individualized process. It is a resource-intensive process.”

“Your ROI,” interpreted Greg Posner, Player Driven’s founder, “is the happiness of someone, or something that happens...”

He alluded to the research that Stallings had noted.

“Is there something you're measuring or looking at afterwards?...What are those kind of data points or metrics that you're trying to—"

“For a long time,” Stallings interjected, “it was about…the story of what we did. We knew in our hearts that wishes were, like, a good thing, and we're having a good impact on kids. But a few years ago, we really put a lot of resources into a scientific, data-driven research study about what we do and what the outcomes look like.”

[pull quote:] We're measuring things, [such as] emotional well-being, family togetherness, health outcomes, optimism about the future. There are definitely some key data points that we look at, pre- and post-wish, for each child and each family, that are telling us that, often, the satisfaction, the positive mental shift that happens after a wish, is in the high ninetieth percentile…We're really proud of the outcomes that we have.

“We've been invited to a lot of pediatric oncology conferences,” Stallings continued. “People who specialize in childhood cancers and things like that, to present our findings and to talk about a wish as part of treatment, and a wish as part of…resources that a hospital can integrate into treatment.”

“It's been really it's been really well received by the medical community and, you know, it's nice to kind of have that hard data to support what we sort of all knew in our hearts.”

This Make-A-Wish International-sponsored study, which was published in late 2024, is available here.

“If you're a data nerd,” she said, “it's fascinating reading.”

I must be…since I went and looked it up!

A few different findings stuck out to me.

First, the survey found that wish children self-reported a range of positive outcomes during and after their Wish Journeys, but increased joy and happiness led the way, as the figure below illustrates. An important related insight was that the positive results tend to last: The long-term impact of wishes was measured up to five years after wishes were granted, and the survey showed these positive impacts were barely down relative to the Wish Realization step measurement.

Source: Make-A-Wish International’s “Developing A Global Theory of Change for Make-A-Wish International to Articulate, Evaluate and Improve the Impact of Wish Granting” study (September 2024; wish children N=832 in 2023; collected in non-U.S. countries in which Make-A-Wish International had a presence.)

A second key finding from this study assessed the impact on the parents and guardians of wish children. As Stallings had said, families go through these traumas, and Wish Journeys, together. The figure below sums up part of what the wish experience meant to parents/guardians. Around 90%, or more, of parents/guardians reported their wish experiences had had “positive” or “very positive” effects on them as well. Physical and mental/emotional well-being impacts led the way, but a rise in a sense of “empowerment to address the social and emotional needs” of wish children was close behind.

Source: Make-A-Wish International’s “Developing A Global Theory of Change for Make-A-Wish International to Articulate, Evaluate and Improve the Impact of Wish Granting” study (September 2024; wish parents/guardians N=1,479 in 2023; collected in non-U.S. countries in which Make-A-Wish International had a presence.)

Before moving on from Make-A-Wish International’s impact assessments, it’s worth noting that the site also offers some incredible specific testimonials. One involves a boy in Brazil who’s a huge football/soccer fan and got to meet his dream team. Another involves a girl in Panama whose wish was to help stray kittens/cats in the country.

“Thank you for what you're doing because I think it's the most amazing charity out there,” said Posner at one pointin the discussion.

“How does your team manage emotions internally?” he asked. “You're seeing terrible things…I imagine there's a lot of tears that are shed on a normal basis.”

“There's this misconception that we only work with children who are terminally ill,” Stallings responded, “or whose conditions, you know, will lead to the worst-case scenario. And that's not true.”

“Obviously, that is a part of what we do, sadly. But the vast majority of our wish kids go on to overcome their illnesses, you know, [and] lead relatively normal, healthy lives. A lot of childhood illness is either a permanent condition they live with, or it does have lingering side effects.”

“I've been with Make-A-Wish in one form or another for ten years now almost,” she continued. “I've really had to learn how to handle that side of things, especially when I was more involved with the direct wish granting because you do get to know children, you do get to know their families. That loss that does happen sometimes.”

“We definitely make well-being, both emotional and physical well-being, a pillar at Make-A-Wish, for our employees, of course, and our volunteers.”

“We do have resources available to help with that when we need to, but you really do sort of have to get yourself sorted pretty early on.”

“Honestly, there's a lot of charities where this is an ongoing concern,” Stallings reflected. “I've worked in the homeless sector. I've worked in a lot of, you know, sectors where you can be challenged emotionally. You definitely need to know that the charity you're working for has the resources and, you know, is going to actually encourage you to use them.”

It’s great to hear Make-A-Wish recognizes this issue and has related employee and volunteer support resources in place.

John Cena Grants Wishes…and Five Knuckle Shuffles

“John Cena has granted over 650 wishes,” Posner noted at another point in our conversation. “I think he's an amazing human being. Why is he so relentless about it?”

Cena, an American actor, formerly wrestled for the WWE for over two decades.

“His why,” began Stallings, “I'm not entirely sure about. I know that it's there.”

“I think that's a very personal thing that only he could really, you know, reveal.”

“He knows that he's doing an amazing thing for these kids,” she continued. “He was part of a big wish granting campaign that happened with WWE this past summer as they headed to, I think it was in France, the SummerSlam.”

A web check implied she was probably referencing last summer’s Road to Clash in Paris. Cena was on a pro wrestling farewell tour; stops were made in several European capitals and metro centers.

“There was, like, a road trip they took through all of Europe to get to the finale. And there was a kiddo in Belgium, you know, who wanted to meet him.”

“I remember seeing the, kind of, video of him before the wish. Most celebrities, you know, it's a thing that they do, that's good to do, and that they feel good about, that happens while everything else is happening, you know? Like, it's kind of like part of the day or whatever.”

[Pull quote:] But for him [John Cena], he had a dossier on the child. He wanted to learn about the child. He asked questions of the wish team before he actually met the child…And then he walked into the room and he started speaking flawless French to this child. And I was like, ‘What is happening?’

“I have never seen that attention and detail and care taken for something like this,” continued Stallings. Cena “is truly an inspirational person to be like in this sense. Especially if you're another, like, you know, popular person that kids are wanting to meet or whatever.”

“He really puts all of himself into it. And he does it over and over and over again.”

“You asked about how staff manages their mental well-being for these things,” said Stallings, making a U-turn. “Some celebrities walk away from their wish granting experience changed, and, you know, overwhelmed by the emotions of what they just did.”

“But to do that hundreds of times is really unique and special. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. And not just because I work for the charity that, you know, he does that for, but because the pieces of himself that he pulls out from that, and gives to each of these children is truly amazing. I had never seen a behind the scenes look at it before like I did with the Belgium wish, and it was amazing.”

At the WWE’s Clash in Paris last summer, John Cena defeated Logan Paul and Roman Reigns defeated Bronson Reed.

The unspoken winner of the Road to Clash in Paris, we may hope, was a kid in Belgium who met his idol and was treated like a prince.

Roll for Wishes

“There's something called Roll for Wishes,” I said to Stallings at a different point in the exchange. “I think it’s coming up in October” and its focus is tabletop games, right?

“I'm terrible at D&D!” she confessed.

Dungeons & Dragons, an iconic table-top role-playing (TTRPG) game, is currently published by Wizards of the Coast, and I grew up playing it with my older bro’.

“I've tried so many times,” she continued. “I just don't have the pizzazz to, like, to really, like, wholeheartedly throw my being into being a tenth level warrior, barbarian....”

I see. Too nerdy for you?

I offered her a graceful exit.

“Can we at least get one fav board game out of you?”

“Clue is my favorite, but I'm a big fan of Wingspan also.”

Clue (left) is published by Hasbro. Wingspan (right) is published by Stonemaier Games.

“Wingspan is one of my favorites,” said Stallings, seeing the confused look on my face. “It's a migratory bird game. Like, you gotta play it.”

“They've also come out with a fish version of it, and now they’ve come up with a dragon version of it called Wyrmspan. That's one of my favorites too.”

“But, yeah, OG Clue…I love I love beating anybody at Clue. Makes me feel so smart...”

Stallings put the train back on its tracks.

“Roll for Wishes is basically a chance for the TTRPG community, you know, especially content creators in the space” to help Make-A-Wish International fulfill its mission. “There's a whole world out there that just focuses on playing [Paizo Inc’s] Pathfinder, D&D, all that kind of stuff, and [the program] gives them a chance to fundraise for us the entire month of October.”

“This one, I think, has yet to achieve its full potential,” confided Stallings. “I'm really focusing on that this year. Each week is gonna have a larger kind of signature content creator doing their charitable event for us. A lot of one shots…”

“People donate, and it influences the outcome of the game, you know, a lot of dungeon crawler-style play…”

“We're trying to put together a bundle of TTRPG materials, a lot like a game bundle…if anybody wants to get in on that...”

Yes, please do so in 2027, if you’re in a position to do so!

“It's four years in” for the program, she elaborated. “People get excited that it's coming up. It's starting to kinda get that, like, you know, that recognition, that expectation that it's happening.”

Speedrunning Doom on a Flip Phone

“There's a psychological thing,” I said to Stallings, with a lack of scientific specificity, “where the giver of…if you're giving, if you're generous to somebody, not just the person that gets the generosity is benefitted, but the person who gives it is helped.”

“In a way, if you say people, celebrities, are changed, or anybody who grants a wish may be changed, the game dev team may be changed,” in addition to wish children.

Stallings understood my general direction.

“Absolutely,” she said, nodding. “We have 27,000 volunteers around the world. Our wish granting cannot happen without our volunteer base.”

[Pull quote:] Our Make-A-Wish Chile, that entire country has two paid staff, and the rest of it is all volunteer driven, right? Part of part of the way we're able to reach as many kids as we do, and have as big a geographic coverage as we do, is all volunteer driven. And what do they get out of it? They get the same thing out of it that John Cena does. Whatever that piece of themselves that is being filled up by these wishes, I think that's an important intangible.

“It really does have to ‘fill your bucket’ for you to be able to do it long term,” she elaborated. “It really does have to be something that is satisfying a piece of your soul.”

That’s indeed what I was getting at.

“When you wake up in the morning,” Posner said, at another point, “what's going on in the office that, you know, it's gonna be a great day? Like, I am so pumped—"

“The people,” interjected Stallings. “We're building such a great community, especially around the content creator side of things” lately.

“We've got a wonderful group called European Speedrunners…They're based in Sweden but they bring people from all over the world together, twice a year, to do a speedrunning competition and raise funds for us.”

“They just wrapped up last week and they raised $60,000. Like, ‘I'm gonna play Doom on my flip phone,’ and people are gonna donate while I'm doing that.”

I contemplated using AI to mock up an image of that, but I didn’t need to do that.

A streamer, Dralnah, helped raise funds for Make-A-Wish International in August 2026 by speedrunning Doom on a flip phone during a European Speedrunner Assembly (ESA) charity marathon in Sweden; image courtesy of the associated YouTube video.

The 411 on the ESA’s charity marathon is here, and list of all the videogames speedrun during the event is here.

“There's one game called Poke the Penguin where literally all you do is you just poke a penguin,” Stallings continued, grinning. “It's these random niche things that the speedrunning community finds. They have a huge impact. So, it's the people too. That gets me excited, whenever we meet new people who wanna help.”

Posner took the baton from there.

If “someone is working at a studio or creates content,” he said, “what's the most single valuable thing they can do for you to help?”

“Give,” Stallings said bluntly.

“Obviously, financially. You know, it makes the world go round. It pays for trips. It does all that kind of stuff.”

“Giving time, giving access, giving money, giving connections” is another way they can help.

“Gaming, more than any other industry I've ever looked at or been a part of, is so reliant on who you know, and is so tightly knit. People go on entire career journeys together in the games industry.”

Well, that’s become a lot rarer since the pandemic…

“They see each other at the same conferences, across the same, you know, networking events.”

“Giving access and introductions is just as important as all the rest of it,” added Stallings.

“In five years, my network has expanded exponentially because of generous people who've made the right introductions, at the right time in the games industry. There's a lot of ways to give, but just have the conversation, and see what you can do is my best advice there.”

“We’re player driven,” I said, meaning that Posner and I tend to look at the industry from the “inside out, from the gamer’s perspective, and try to provide some insights from that. I feel like Make-A-Wish and with Make-A-Wish International already come from this perspective…”

“There has been a shift in the games industry where, you know, the heart of it is being minimized,” nodded Stallings.

“Do you know what I mean? What makes people come back to games? What makes your employees get up in the morning and get excited?”

“Obviously, the work does. But I think there needs to be a reset on the conversation of being a good global citizen, giving back to the community, giving your employees a chance to be engaged in something that does a greater good than themselves.”

“I think it's something that we really, really need to get back to at the grassroots level of gaming, and what the heart of gaming is.”

I think I speak for Player Driven when I say “amen” to that sentiment.