The main dining room at Rhode Island Country Club is nearly filled with people. 

At the front of the room, 14-year-old Barrington resident Nora Kelly stands with her sisters, Maeve and Charlotte. 

Organizers of a special Make-A-Wish fund-raiser have asked the Kelly sisters to select the winning ticket for a raffle. But not everything is as it appears — something else, something particularly special, is happening at this event. 

Bill Loehning, a board member of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, begins speaking to the crowd, holding back a swell of emotions as he tries to deliver the message. 

This event, he says, is not just a fund-raiser. He says this event is also for Nora and her family. The crowd grows quiet and Loehning steadies himself. This ceremony is actually a “wish reveal.” Nora Kelly, diagnosed with osteosarcoma last spring, is going to Greece with her family, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. 

The crowd erupts with cheers and applause. 

For the last year, Nora has battled back against the cancer. Doctors removed a large tumor, along with Nora’s left knee, most of her lower leg and about a third of her femur. Nora pushed through 32 rounds of chemotherapy, a lengthy surgery, and spent more than 80 days in the hospital.

To the anxious crowd inside the country club dining room, Nora announces the news everyone is waiting to hear: She rang the bell, she says. Her scans were clean. 

More applause. More cheers. 

For a man who has attended dozens of wish reveals, Loehning cannot help but find himself emotionally overwhelmed while talking about Nora and the Kelly family. 

“I’ve been involved with Make-A-Wish for 20 years. I’ve been the chairman here for 11 years. This is personal to me,” he says, following the event. “…this one, my kids, my grandkids are friends with the family. So many people here know them in town.

“A year ago I asked Nora what she would like to do. She said I can’t do a lot, but I can still swim, and I’ve seen pictures of Greece and the water looks beautiful, so I want to go to Greece. I said, we’re going to make that happen.

“It was very special,” he says. “Again, all the wishes are special, but when it’s personal, you know … Most of the time it’s for people you certainly feel for, but you don’t know them. This is one where I’ve known these kids since they were little…”

Loehning, who raised his family in Barrington, mills around the room after the wish reveal, talking with longtime friends and neighbors. After a while, the crowd starts to thin. 

“Your worst nightmare as a parent is when your child has cancer,” Loehning says. “Anytime you think you’re having a bad day, think of these parents and these kids. You have never had a bad day. Never had a bad day.”

Yellow hearts everywhere

In April 2024, Nora was moving through life like many other eighth grade girls. She went to school. She played sports. She hung out with her friends. And whenever possible, she went to the beach. 

But during a family vacation she fell and her knee started to hurt. It did not get better when she returned home. She limped through her lacrosse games. The swelling grew worse. A bump the size of a lemon grew just under her left knee. 

“And I was really tired,” Nora said. “I would go to school and then when I got home I would immediately go back into my bed and fall asleep.”

Nora’s parents, Katie and Jared, scheduled her for an x-ray at a medical building in East Providence. She left school at 8:45 a.m., was getting x-rays a little after 9, and then spoke to the doctor. 

“My doctor said it was a cell disease. I looked it up and it said it was cancer. I was like, oh, well,” Nora said. 

It was Monday, May 13. The day after Mother’s Day. 

“He came in and said it’s a cell infection. And then he asked me to leave the room. I went to the waiting room. I had been to him before. I thought they were talking about insurance or something,” Nora said. 

The diagnosis was osteosarcoma, and the response by the medical team was immediate. 

“… it was all very fast,” Nora said. “I went to the hospital to get a bunch of scans. But I had gone swimming the day before … and 24 hours before the scans you can’t do any exercise. So it got canceled. I needed a needle biopsy, and it came back and didn’t say anything so I got a surgical one. And then, like, a week later I was in the hospital, I had my port, and I was getting chemo.”

Nora’s treatment started in late May 2024. Round after round of chemotherapy became the new routine for Nora and the Kelly family. 

“It took away my hair, which I didn’t like,” Nora said. 

For the first couple days of each round, Nora would grow sick. Then, after a while, her appetite would return. 

Jared said she would have random cravings. 

“Miso soup,” Nora said. “Yeah, and Tzatziki. I couldn’t eat chicken for like six months and then all of a sudden I wanted chicken again. Also, every time I went to get chemo I had scallion pancakes.”

“Raspberries. You ate a ton of raspberries,” Jared said. 

Often, Jared would walk from the hospital to Trader Joe’s and pick up lunch or snacks. They leaned on Door Dash. In fact, people from town donated money for the food delivery service. And at home, friends, family and neighbors pitched in to make meals or have them delivered. Feast and Fettle doubled the amount donated by friends and neighbors. 

The meals were just one part of a huge community effort — the Kellys said it was more than they ever could have asked for. 

Across town, white lawn signs with yellow hearts began popping up. They filled the yards throughout the Kelly’s neighborhood. They surfaced at fields all over Barrington and in front of schools. They were everywhere. 

After 29 rounds of chemotherapy, Nora was prepped for the surgery. She said she was not nervous before the operation. The night before doctors removed Nora’s left knee, her tibia, most of her fibula, and a third of her femur and replaced it all with surgical steel implants, the 14-year-old watched Love Island and ate Cheeto Puffs.

“The white cheddar ones,” she said. 

The surgery took hours and shortly thereafter, Nora spiked a fever. 

“They thought it was an infection of the surgery,” Jared said. It turned out to be Covid. Three more rounds of chemo followed and after another 19 days in the hospital, Nora came home.

“My grandparents got me a limo to come home,” she said. 

Nora said the surgery and the chemo and the doctors visits were tolerable. What was really difficult was missing summer. 

“Memorial Day she was in the hospital,” said Jared. “Fourth of July she was in the hospital. Labor Day she was in the hospital having emergency surgery. Columbus Day. Her birthday. The whole summer was gone.”

She pushed through the challenges — by October, Nora was walking. By January 27, she rang the bell. Her scans were clear. 

She said recovery is “annoying.” “A lot of PT… They make me go on the bike.”

She cannot feel all of her left leg or foot yet.

“It’s fine… not really,” she said. “My brace is really annoying. It’s ugly.”

Nora finished the year back at school… “sadly,” she added. She would rather be laying out. 

Jared said Barrington Schools have been great throughout. Nora said she is looking forward to summer vacation and some “high UV” days. 

“I like to tan,” she said. 

Jared praised the work of Nora’s medical team and everyone at The Tomorrow Fund at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. And he also took time to thank the people with Make-A-Wish. 

Michael Vieira, the director at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, was very happy that the organization will be able to send Nora and her family away on a special trip.

“The beauty of a wish is that it can mean something different for each child,” Vieira said. “Nora has been through so much, and for her to have this wish to celebrate the completion of her cancer treatment is so special. It’s clear that this wish has been a beacon of strength and hope for Nora and her family during their most difficult days."