Couple honors late loved one by helping children’s dreams come true

A South Florida couple is honoring the memory of their niece and by doing so they re helping dreams come true for children at a local hospital Heather Walker has more in this Spotlight Twelve-year-old Emma Gonzalez spends a lot of time at Joe DiMaggio Children s Hospital She s being treated here for a rare disorder that affects her improvement Emma Gonzalez client On my port right here They just clean it and just put the needle in and give me my medicine Going to the hospital can be scary but there s nothing spooky about this Halloween at Joe DiMaggio Jessica Liguori Robert brings the pumpkins on site and the children are able to come pick a special pumpkin get particular candy and several programs and we can spend time with them and do fun stuff together Robert and Jessica Liguori started the pumpkin patch in as a way to provide a little fun for the young patients They understand what the families are going through because they would come to the hospital with their niece Sophia Jessica Liguori Who at and a half years old was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma brain tumor of which she fought for years She passed away a month shy of her th birthday After Sophia s death the Liguoris wished to keep their niece s memory alive They decided to help children fighting wellness battles by making their dreams come true Robert Liguori You know our goal is to keep Sophia s memory alive and to grant as countless dreams as we can for these children That s the bottom line They created the Sophia s Butterfly Blessings Fund at Joe DiMaggio Children s Hospital The fund uses donations to help create fun experiences for the patients A family fills out an application to explain their child s dream then Robert and Jessica unit up with local businesses to make it come true Emma Gonzalez Well it s very exciting very happy and I m grateful to them that they can definitely do my dream Emma was one of the first children to have a wish granted She was surprised with a trip to meet Latin singer Bad Bunny during his concert stop in Miami last year Emma Gonzalez I saw a limo outside my house and it was Robert and Jessica and then we were on the way to the concert and I didn t even know anything until I saw Bad Bunny and it was just exciting Chosen of the dreams are big like meeting Bad Bunny and Shakira Others are smaller requests Robert Liguori One little boy wants ample Legos That s what he wants ample Legos One teenage girl wants a PlayStation and No matter the size of the dream Robert and Jessica work to make it happen and there is one word that describes the feeling they get Jessica Liguori I keep going back to bliss but it really is it fills my heart with gratification to be able to be a part of it Robert Liguori And every smile I see on these children s faces reminds me of her and keeps her memory alive with me Because every child should have a dream Heather Walker News You can get more information about Sophia s Butterfly Blessings Fund and how you can donate at WSVN com If you know of a person place or group that you think we should highlight email us at spotlight wsvn com