Paiton gets his wish
By Chris Erickson
After numerous medical treatments in the past couple years that included brain resections, surgeries and a stem cell transplant, Paiton Dilday is home and recovering. What’s more, he’s got a brand new Polaris Razor All-Terrain Vehicle to drive around in.
Although he had a bit of an idea that he would be getting the ATV, he didn’t know it would be coming so relatively soon to his request being made. He also didn’t know where or when it would be presented to him thanks to some good-natured subterfuge employed by his god-parents and members of the Hazen High School.
Paiton had spent quite some time at University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital being treated for a brain tumor - on and off since being diagnosed. His most recent stay was a lengthy two-and-a-half months before coming home.
The idea for the ATV came after one of Paiton’s neighbors visited with an Arctic Cat, after he was put in the position of trying to come up with a wish when the Make A Wish Foundation contacted him.
“So I looked at Kawasakis and a Polaris, which I really liked the design of and I was going for a brand new 2014 model, but insurance said ‘No’,” Paiton joked. “But that’s what I had in mind for what I wanted.”
According to his god-mother, Dorinda Unterseher, when Make A Wish first made contact with them, Paiton was hesitant in even choosing a wish to begin with.
“He said he didn’t want anything, that he had all he wanted,” Dorinda said. “But then we started looking at 4 by 4 vacations, wherever. But he wouldn’t have been able to drive anything due to his age. But having one of these on your own - you just have to be 16 to run it on your own property. So he qualified for that.”
