Boy With Cancer Granted Wish to Turn into Superhero for a Day

Stories like this make me so grateful for organizations such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Thursday was shaping up to be just another school day for 13-year-old Erik Martin, but then something extraordinary happened: Spider-Man called.

Spider-Man happens to be one of the few people who knows that Erik, too, has a secret identity — he's Electron Boy, a superhero who fights the powers of evil with light.

And Spider-Man needed Erik's help.

Erik, who is living with liver cancer, has always wanted to be a superhero. On Thursday, the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him that wish with an elaborate event that involved hundreds of volunteers in Bellevue and Seattle.

> Read the full story (The Seattle Times)

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Related Sublime Goodness Posts:

• Girl Gets Dying Wish Granted from Pixar to See "Up"
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• University Student Gets Anonymous $16,000 Check for Tuition

*Thanks to my friend Stacy for the tip on this story.

Fireman Dresses as Spider-Man to Rescue Boy

This was already posted in one of my favorite blogs, Operation Nice, yesterday, but it's such a great story that I couldn't resist sharing here. The fact that I used to be (used to? wink, wink..) such a big comic book nerd makes this story even better for me:

A Thai firefighter dressed as Spider-Man to rescue an autistic boy who climbed onto a third-floor balcony and dangled his legs over the side because he was nervous on his first day of school.

Firefighter Somchai Yoosabai was called in after the 11-year-old boy's teachers and mother failed to coax him off the ledge on Monday, he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

"He was nervous about the first day at school, and he was asking for his mother," Somchai said. "He cried and refused to let any of us get close to him."

Overhearing a conversation between the boy's mother and his teachers about his love for comics and superheroes, Somchai rushed back to the fire station to change into a Spider-Man costume before swinging into action.

"I told him Spider-Man is here to save you. No monster will hurt you now," Somchai said. "Then I told him to walk slowly toward me. I was very nervous that he might have slipped if he got too excited and ran."

Somchai, who keeps costume of Spider-Man and a Japanese superhero Ultraman to liven up fire drills at schools, said the teary-eyed boy broke into a smile and started walking into his arms. (from MSNBC)