Grafton teen living with cancer gets help with college, thanks to Make-A-Wish

GRAFTON — When the Massachusetts and Rhode Island chapter of Make-A-Wish first emailed Julio Varella and his family about helping make one of his dreams come true following his cancer diagnosis, he feared it was spam or a phishing email.

But the email seemed real enough, so the family reached out to learn more, not realizing at the time that it would bring Varella, 18, a step closer to his dream of studying theater in college without the burden of student loan debt.

“I feel very grateful,” Varella said. “Make-A-Wish is really there to help work through any sort of trauma from a critical or chronic illness.”

Varella was born in Brazil; his family came to the United States in 2011, settling in Westborough. He graduated from Westborough High School where he found his passion for theater and specifically theater tech.

“I like listening to people's stories … because, in a way, we all create stories of our experiences,” Varella, who moved to Grafton with his family a year ago, said. “It's a very good coping mechanism for dealing with trauma… We're all pretty much storytellers in that sense and I feel like I sort of have good stories to tell as well.”

At age 16, Varella received the “terrifying” news that he had a form of testicular cancer. He began traveling to Boston Children’s Hospital and the Jimmy Fund Clinic to receive treatment.

The experience was difficult for Varella and for his father, Rodrigo, who was the one most often taking Julio to his appointments.

“I was always trying to figure out a way to better support him,” Rodrigo said. “We, as parents, also feel that burden.”

While Julio was receiving treatment, his oncologist referred him to Make-A-Wish, which reached out asking for Varella’s top three wishes.

The first, he said, was to be able to go backstage at a Broadway performance.

But because of restrictions still in place from the COVID-19 pandemic, that wish wasn’t possible.

His second wish was tuition assistance to help pay for college.

“There are people who go into their late 40s and they're still having to pay off loans, and that kind of thing scares me,” Varella said. “Being aware of that, I wanted to take as much pressure off my parents as well to pay for college, so it felt right.”

Although it did not specify the amount, Make-A-Wish said the tuition assistance went toward Varella’s first year at UMass Amherst, where he is currently studying theater, focusing on theater tech.

“I've always had so much appreciation for storytelling and it just sort of developed that in school. You can't really go out and try to make movies, but you could definitely do theater,” Varella said. “That felt much more approachable and realistic to me in middle school, in high school and I felt that theater tech would be the route to go to instead of filmmaking.”

Since arriving at UMass, Varella has immersed himself into the campus and theater activities.

He has gotten involved with the deck crew, which handles props and scene transitions, and also auditioned for a devised theater project, a more improvisational form of playwriting and performing.

Varella said he hopes to do “anything” involving theater after graduating. His dream is to write his own play and have it performed somewhere. He pointed to “In the Heights” playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes as one of his inspirations.

The tuition assistance would not have been possible if not for Bill Murphy, a Grafton resident, mortgage business-owner and author who has been long-involved with the organization.

“It's such an experience to watch. I really believe that it helps get them through their illness and get through to the other side,” Murphy said. “Some of these kids are thriving in life after being Wish-kids.”

Murphy, who is on the board of directors for the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Make-A-Wish chapter, said he has helped raise or personally donate over $525,000 since becoming involved with the organization in 2006.

His ongoing efforts have helped build a Hobbit house into the ground for one child, a wheelchair-accessible swing set for another and also a treehouse that was the 10,000th wish provided by the Massachusetts and Rhode Island chapter of Make-A-Wish.

Varella’s tuition assistance wish was interesting, Murphy said, because it showed he was not only thinking of himself, but his parents as well.

“He is a very, very intelligent, smart, mindful, conscientious kid, who really puts a lot of people in front of his own needs,” Murphy said.

Typically, Murphy travels around the state to meet kids involved with Make-A-Wish, but Varella lived just two miles down the road, which Murphy said made for a “cool” experience.

He said he hopes to eventually travel to UMass and see one of the productions Varella works on.

“I’m wishing him the best and a great college life, and a clean bill of health, happiness and prosperity, and lots of fun,” Murphy said. “Every college kid deserves to have an experience and be away at school.”

Rodrigo Varella said he and his wife made sure not to influence his son's wish decision.

“This is a unique opportunity that Make-A-Wish gives to kids that need to undergo suffering at such a young age,” Rodrigo said. “We wanted him to be free to pick what he really wanted. We would be happy with whatever he chose.”

When Julio was still undergoing treatment, Rodrigo said, he found some comfort thanks to Make-A-Wish. He said he hopes other families going through similar experiences will get in contact with the organization.

Julio said it’s important to dispel the misconception that Make-A-Wish is only for children with terminal or incurable diagnoses. He pointed to his own cancer diagnosis, which “he would not wish on anyone,” but had a “very low likelihood” of being fatal.

“It'd be really good for a lot of families,” Varella said. “It’s an opportunity here to do something spectacular and turn this horrible experience into having a sort of happy ending in a way or some sort of happy memory in between.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Make-A-Wish helps Grafton teen with cancer attend UMass Amherst