John Cena grants 300th wish

[Kermit]

I have always heard about Cena's contributions towards the Make A Wish foundation, but it was nice to read it for myself in a news article. Here is the article that is currently posted up on Yahoo.

There are always plenty of candidates for top sports celebrity bad guy: LeBron, Tiger, T.O., Roger Clemens, and on and on.

But what about top sports good guy? Those names don't come to mind quite as easily. Even beloved athletes such as Tim Tebow and Derek Jeter have detractors.

But by one important measure, there is a runaway favorite.

John Cena.

Pro wrestler John Cena granted his 300th Make-A-Wish request to a 7-year-old boy.The pro wrestling superstar granted his 300th Make-A-Wish request to a 7-year-old Pennsylvania boy named Jonny Littman earlier this week. That's far and away tops among sports celebrities.

(Pause here for those who don't think pro wrestling is a sport. It's not. But tell that to a sick child. And, by the way, throwing a 250-pound man across a ring 300 nights a year constitutes athleticism of some sort.)

Only a few other sports stars have granted more than 200 wishes, including Hulk Hogan, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Michael Jordan is in the 200 neighborhood and Kobe Bryant has granted more than 100. (More than 50 wishes will be granted at the London Olympics.) Cena raced past 300 and he fully intends on getting to 1,000.

How popular is Cena with Make-A-Wish? There's a conference room dedicated to him at the company headquarters in Arizona.

"Overall, I get 100-140 WWE wish requests a year," said Shaina Reeser, sports program manager at Make-A-Wish, "and the majority is for John Cena. He probably does two or three kids every week. It's crazy."

[Also: Yahoo! Sports spans the globe to re-live the greatest Summer Olympic moments]

Cena never says no. Even though his schedule is tougher than most stars – there are no home games and there's no off-season – he unfailingly builds in time for Wish kids. WWE rep Kevin Hennessey even says Cena's 300th wish was so important that his bosses rearranged his entire schedule for it.

It's not that other athletes are cold-hearted. Pretty much everyone says yes to Make-A-Wish every time. (In fact, LeBron, Tiger, T.O. and Clemens have all done over-the-top wishes for kids across the country.) But sometimes schedules conflict or an athlete can't be in the area where his wish kid lives. And, sadly, because of illness and the course of treatment, wish kids don't always have a lot of time to wait for their favorite athletes to become free. One of the big myths about Make-A-Wish is that children pass away from their illnesses; many make a full recovery. The only requirement for a wish kid is a life-threatening condition. But that usually entails severe hardship not only physically but financially. Families spend so much on care and medical bills that they can't afford over-the-top presents. That's where Make-A-Wish comes in. And that's where celebs like John Cena come through.

"He has been a big supporter of us forever," said Make-A-Wish national communications manager Mark Hiegel. "By this time next year, he'll have 400."

And while some heroes do a simple meet-and-greet, Cena turns the Wish into an experience. He usually invites the child to Monday Night Raw, where he takes the entire family backstage, gives them all signed memorabilia and introduces them to other WWE stars. That's what he did for Jonny Littman on Monday in New York. But then Cena followed up with a surprise visit the next day on Good Morning America.

That's by far the best part of the Make-A-Wish day – the surprise. Kids sometimes get shy and sometimes beam for hours, but they all forget for a while about the next hospital visit or the next round of chemo.

"He gets the kids out of their shells," Reeser said of Cena. "He's every good at asking questions, pulling information out of them. There's always a huge smile and their eyes light up. The more outgoing kids will say Cena's phrase, which is 'You can't see me.' "

But that's just it. A sick kid can see Cena. He makes sure of it.

 

[RKO77]

Can't express in words how much respect for what he does with those kids

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The breakdown of his marriage must fall on the shoulders of some of those children.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

The breakdown of his marriage must fall on the shoulders of some of those children.

um NO, the breakdown of his marriage can be attributed to one thing and one thing only, WRESTLING... Being in the wrestling biz and the top dog and traveling to 3 or 4 different cities a week would kill pretty much any marriage. Even if Cena was a dick and skipped every single wish, he'd still be on the road all week and have the same marital problems.

As to the original story, it really is amazing and I have a ton of respect for Cena for this. This is the reason why Cena will always be at the top and why Punk should never be. Cena is out granting make a wish kid's wishes while Punk is telling fans to kill themselves. It's just the nature of the beast that you have to be good for the company as a whole not just talented in the ring if you really want to be the top star, Punk doesn't get that, and he's not cut out for it... I know I'm on a tangent here, but the more I see, the more Cena earns my respect and punk loses it.

 

[The Brain]

And people think Cena needs to turn heel

 

[Awesome_Miz]

Man if you don't respect Cena after that read then I don't know what will.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

um NO, the breakdown of his marriage can be attributed to one thing and one thing only, WRESTLING... Being in the wrestling biz and the top dog and traveling to 3 or 4 different cities a week would kill pretty much any marriage. Even if Cena was a dick and skipped every single wish, he'd still be on the road all week and have the same marital problems.

Except for Dwayne Johnson. The man tops Cena yet again.

 

[Slyfox696]

Except for Dwayne Johnson. The man tops Cena yet again.

Uhh...

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Got divorced when he was on his wrestling holiday, didn't he? It's spending more time together that crippled The Rock's relationship.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

As to the original story, it really is amazing and I have a ton of respect for Cena for this. This is the reason why Cena will always be at the top and why Punk should never be. Cena is out granting make a wish kid's wishes while Punk is telling fans to kill themselves. It's just the nature of the beast that you have to be good for the company as a whole not just talented in the ring if you really want to be the top star, Punk doesn't get that, and he's not cut out for it... I know I'm on a tangent here, but the more I see, the more Cena earns my respect and punk loses it.

Nothing is going to save wrestling's image. It would be best for business if Cena spent his time fulfilling wishes for kids that are more likely to be alive for the next house show or PPV.

#simpleeconomics

 

[justinsayne]

"Oh look at me I grant lil sick kid wishes"

Psh, fuckin' showoff...

 

[a0161613]

Hardest worker in company history? Yeah probably.

 

[Slyfox696]

"Oh look at me I grant lil sick kid wishes"

Psh, fuckin' showoff...

You seem to be lost. Allow me to guide you back to the light.

 

[justinsayne]

You seem to be lost. Allow me to guide you back to the light.

You still have that!?

 

[Slyfox696]

You still have that!?

The classics never die.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

And people think Cena needs to turn heel

You listen to those people? I don't. However, when he does turn, it's going to be pretty fucking epic.

Enough about that. That will go on for fifteen pages.

This is why it's so hard to really hate Cena. I'm still not a fan, but he's obviously a decent human being. That's saying a lot. Millions of people wouldn't do the same.

 

[Unsold Bacon]

I'm sure WWE will inform of this in the 'Did You Knows?' soon enough.

 

[SD619]

This is one of the reasons why Cena is invaluable to the WWE. He is one of the very few wrestlers about whom the mainstream media writes positively. Generally, all we hear/read is how wrestlers are drug abuses, wife beaters, roid-freaks etc.