The first Monday of 2026 is a date 18-year-old Ella Murray will never forget.
The Centreville, Virginia, recent high school graduate was visited by staff members of Make-A-Wish, and they asked her to look out the front door.
“That’s when I saw the parade,” Murray said. “Today is my wish celebration.”
There were 60 people marching behind a Make-A-Wish themed tour bus in this parade right in front of her house, letting Murray know that her wish had been granted.
On Tuesday, Murray will be joined by her parents and younger siblings on a weeklong trip to Italy.
When WTOP asked her why she picked Italy, Murray answered, “Mainly for the food.”
Not only will Murray be eating her way around Italy, she also will be taking three different cooking classes.
“One seafood, one gelato making and one pizza making,” she said.
Make-A-Wish had an after parade party where they had Timber Pizza Co. making woodfire pizza outside in their driveway along with a gelato station.
Murray’s parents said they couldn’t be more appreciative to Make-A-Wish for granting their daughter’s wish and they couldn’t be prouder of her.
Murray was born with a very rare, painful connective tissue disorder.
“I have epidermolysis bullosa — EB for short. Basically, my skin is just really, really fragile, and so I get wounds very easily,” she said.
“She’s really incredibly cognitively sharp. She loves life, is an incredible testimony to perseverance, faith and just being a kid,” her father Joseph said.
Murray’s mom Katie said, like all Make-A-Wish kids, her daughter is a miracle.
“She wasn’t supposed to be here for 18 years, and she is. I am so in awe that she is here and thriving, and we are able to experience this with her,” Katie said.
