A stranger's kindness led this Fishers doctor to spread smiles with Physicians for Wishes

On the windswept shores of Lake Michigan, Devin Loudy is enjoying what seems to be an ordinary family vacation. It's not, but a photo captures the moment anyway.

Loudy, 20, is reclined comfortably as cool sand gobbles up the plastic feet of his red collapsible beach chair. His girlfriend, Mia Patterson, leans closer as Loudy's grandmother places a hand gently on the back of his head.

A pair of sunglasses obscure Loudy's eyes as he gives a wan smile, pinched at the corners, to the person who snaps his photograph.

He looks happy. So do the people around him. Remember that.

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Immortalized in this casual, nondescript photo is a moment where nobody appears anxious, sad, scared or worried about the deadly brain cancer Loudy has battled for the past seven years.

No, it's summertime in Union Pier, Michigan (roughly 32 miles northwest of South Bend), where intrusive thoughts of chemotherapy can be drowned out by the roar of wind and surf. Loudy's family will later huddle around a fire pit and roast marshmallows. Then they'll spend another day getting to lounge, chat, laugh and enjoy each other's company.

To Dr. Gregory Taylor of Physicians for Wishes, that means everything.

"The smiles are the best part," said Taylor. "I did everything I could think of to help them smile — the beach, the bonfire, the s'mores, all the way down to finding a case of Mountain Dew Baja Blast, Loudy's favorite. I wanted his family to remember this vacation forever."

Taylor, 36, is an emergency medicine doctor in Fishers and the creator of Physicians for Wishes. Its goal, he said, is to provide vacations to families struggling with severe illnesses. He launched a YouTube channel by the same name showcasing how the organization gives back to the community.

The initiative is funded mostly by Taylor, but donations supporting its work can be made through GoFundMe, which gives deserving recipients a chance to get away from it all, including a bad diagnosis.

Loudy's family was granted Taylor's first "Wish vacation."

"It was amazing," said Chrissy Berry, Loudy's mother, in a message to IndyStar. "We have never been able to take a trip with all three of my children, Devin's girlfriend, and his Granny all at the same time. The last big family vacation was right before my younger sister passed away from breast cancer."

Loudy's mother worked as a waitress, she said, for 20 years, until deciding to go back to school and become a nurse. In March 2016, as she was graduating and entering the healthcare profession, doctors diagnosed her son with a brain tumor.

Loudy's tumor turned out to be benign.

The next one wasn't.

Three months later, the tumor had returned and doubled in size. Surgery that July confirmed Loudy, then 13, had a glioblastoma, a deadly and highly aggressive form of brain cancer with a cruelly low survival rate.

Adults, on average, live 14 months after being diagnosed, according to the Glioblastoma Research Organization. Children tend to fare only slightly better — 25% survive five years or more. The National Brain Tumor Society estimates more than 14,000 Americans will receive a glioblastoma diagnosis this year.

In August 2023, Loudy's family enrolled him into hospice.

"The Lake Michigan idea was kind of chosen through conversation with Dr. Taylor," Berry said, whose family lives in Winchester. "We've been up there before and enjoyed the sun and beach, and it isn't too far of a trip for us so that's what we decided to do."

Helping people like the Loudys through Physicians for Wishes is important work for Taylor. It transports him back to the time when he was 20 years old and doctors diagnosed his mother with terminal cancer.

Two months before she succumbed to multiple myeloma in 2008, Taylor's family traveled to the Great Wolf Lodge where they spent a few days at the indoor water park and resort. Her dying wish, Taylor said, was to have one last vacation with her family.

A stranger paid for their trip. Taylor never learned who footed the bill.

That random act of kindness left a powerful impression on Taylor, who finished medical school and became an Air Force Flight Surgeon in Indiana. He grew up, he said, with a passionate need to help other people in similar situations get the same quality time afforded to his mother before her passing.

"She wanted to smile again, to have fun with her kids," Taylor said. "At least for a few days, she wanted to forget that she had cancer. I remember how much that vacation meant. We were all together. There was a lot of laughter; it was really special."

Roughly two months after their trip to Lake Michigan, on Nov. 6, 2023, Loudy died at home surrounded by loved ones. A statement announcing his death on social media thanked those who had supported him and his family in the seven years since his diagnosis.

Donations to Physicians for Wishes can be made online through GoFundMe at GoFundMe.com/f/physicians-for-wishes. To nominate someone with a critical illness in need of a vacation, contact Dr. Gregory Taylor at physicians4wishes@gmail.com.

John Tufts covers evening breaking and trending news for the Indianapolis Star. Send him a news tip at JTufts@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Physicians for Wishes spreads smiles to families affected by illness