EMILY NELSON, FUHS 2007

PRIVATE MEETING: President George W. Bush confers with the Nelson family of Fullerton for 25 minutes in the Oval Office as part of Emily Nelson's Make-A-Wish request.

Family goes to Washington to meet President Bush
Make-A-Wish Foundation fulfills Fullerton teen's request.
By BARBARA GIASONE
The Orange County Register

FULLERTON – Her first choice was a shopping spree.
But after the Make-A-Wish Foundation pegged cancer patient Emily Nelson as a recipient of its program, the family of another patient at Long Beach Memorial Hospital advised, "Think Big."
Nelson, 18, who is now in remission from Hodgkin's disease, thought BIG, all right.
She requested a private session with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office.
"I figured, why not see the most powerful man in the world?" said Nelson, a 2007 Fullerton Union High School graduate.
At precisely 10 a.m. on an October Friday, Nelson and her family were escorted into the presidential office to spend 25 minutes with the nation's leader.
Their conversation stretched from Bush's self-examination of his approval rating to divulging that his sister had died of leukemia at age 3.
"He was really down to earth," said Nelson's brother, Matt, 19.
Nelson's mother, Janice, 50, a special-education teacher, said she found Bush gracious, witty and serious.
"He talked about his wanting to borrow his wife's approval rating, yet said criticism doesn't faze him," Janice Nelson said. "But he did say if people are critical of his daughters, well, that's when he gets defensive."
Dad Andrew Nelson, 63, was interested in Bush's literary choices.
"He had just finished the biography of Lincoln and was working on Washington," said Andrew Nelson, a middle-school teacher. "Without reiterating his approval rating was low, Bush pointed out people are still re-evaluating Washington."
Bush suggested he would be "long dead before his presidency would be assessed."
The president mentioned his dad had given him unconditional love. And he told the Nelsons he and Laura Bush had a good marriage before all of the controversies, and then added, "We have a great marriage now."
While Matt Nelson and Bush talked baseball, the president pulled out a ball and autographed it.
Emily Nelson presented the leader with a poem she wrote, "A Nation's Prayer." She was told the message, which suggests every person has a special strength, will be placed in the Presidential Library.
"When I told the president I couldn't believe he took time out to meet with a family from Fullerton, he said, 'Only in America,'" Andrew Nelson said.
Emily Nelson shared a power-point presentation Sunday with employees at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine. Make-A-Wish depends on corporate sponsors, and Hyatt workers raised $6,500 from fundraisers to send the Nelsons – in style – to Washington, D.C.
Although her pediatric oncologist has pronounced Emily cancer-free, she knows there's always a fear the disease will return.
"I'm just thankful I'm finally able to live again," she said. "Now, I'm thinking about going in to politics."
Her highest ambition, she added, would be serving her country as a congressional representative.

(The newspaper also had some other information, including that Emily was thankful for high school teacher Mark Henderson who coordinated studies so she could graduate in June.)