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96 ARS brings joy to ailing child

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Terri Paden
  • 15th Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii --  A 15th Wing chaplain recently teamed up with members of the 96th Air Refueling Squadron to help make one child's "best week ever" just a little bit better.

Chaplain Lt. Col. Dave Terrinoni, 15 WG deputy command chaplain, felt a sense of obligation to do something when he learned the 13 year old son of his close friends would be visiting Hawaii fulfilling his life's wish courtesy of the Make-a-Wish foundation.

"Nobody likes to see a sick child, and of course I have a vested interest in the family. All I could think about was a 13-year-old child having to be limited in what they could do," he said. "I wanted to help."

The idea was born to offer Seth Clifton, who suffers from an acute case of juvenile scleroderma, the opportunity to fly a KC-135 via the 96 ARS's flight simulator. An opportunity he readily accepted.

According to Brian Clifton, Seth's father, Seth's initial wish was to visit Hawaii, swim with the dolphins and see the whales and sharks. However, when he heard of the opportunity to operate a flight simulator, his excitement took him "over the moon."

After having spent a week enjoying all the adventure tours the Make-a-Wish foundation could schedule, Seth was pleased to end his dream vacation to Hawaii on a high note.

"This was awesome!" he said. "This was my favorite part about the trip and I can't wait to tell my friends how fun it was ... can't wait to tell them I landed a plane by myself."

Having lived the past six years with Seth undergoing treatments for the chronic connective tissue disease, April Clifton, Seth's mother, said there were hardly words to describe the joy she felt spending the week in Hawaii with her family.

"Seth really wanted to make sure his wish was something the whole family could have fun doing. He's just that kind of person he's always thinking of other people," she said.

April said Seth, never one to let his disability keep him down, was optimistic about the future and returning home after leaving Hawaii.

"Seth has talked about going to the Air Force Academy before and after he learned about this opportunity, he started thinking of being a pilot too," Brian said. "When we got the call that everything was a go, it really enhanced his questions about the Air Force and we think this was a really good experience for him."