Melissa (Maggie's sister), Maggie, and Marc Jacobs - Make-A-Wish Wisconsin Wish Day
New York City - October 2006
...remember the life Maggie lived
and be different because of it...
MAGGIE'S STORY
Let Your Light Shine
-Matthew 5:16
Maggie Bye was an amazing young woman who lived her life with courage, beauty, and grace. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was only 15, but as she said to Make-A-Wish organizers in 2005, "I don't see my cancer as a road block, but as a stepping stone to bigger and better things to come." Maggie was granted her wish, to meet fashion designer Marc Jacobs, in 2006. After that she made it her goal... to help other sick children get their wishes granted.
Maggie lost her battle to cancer on December 1, 2008.
To keep Maggie's rich legacy alive; family and friends have come together and created Maggie's Angels, Inc. 501 (c)(3). We are a legal non-profit organization. Our mission is twofold (1) to spread the powerful message of Maggie's courageous life and (2) to give back to our community by helping other sick children and their families. We aspire to offer them, at least a glimpse, of the same joy, hope, and determination, with which Maggie faced each new challenge in her life!
We have Angels carrying on this ministry and creating smiles from WI - IL - MN - MI - CO - MT - AZ - OR & Norway. To date, we have sponsored 60 wishes, 11 of those in the Pacific Northwest!!!
In addition, we have been able to make significant donations to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon. And we've only just begun....
Now that's a lot of smiles and a whole lot of hope created!!!
Like Maggie always said
"You can never
have too much happy!!!"
Reflections of a brother
"Maggie's wish being granted was an amazing experience for her to be blessed with, which is something I'm eternally grateful for. But what we didn't know at the time was how influential it would be for our family and close friends, and even more so after she passed. Maggz returned from the trip with pep in her step, a grin from ear to ear, and an enhanced drive to help other children experiance something so life changing. Just like Maggz, our family has embraced the opportuity to help others, through Make-A-Wish, and we've worked together to grant the wishes of many other children, in her name. My wife, Andrea and I have taken this opportunity to start up Maggie's Angels in our own back yard, the Pacific Northwest. Through Maggie's Angels we have been given the opportunity to host fund-raisers, sell Maggie Wear (sport some too I might add), and we've sponsored a few local golf tourneys. All this has been done to raise money for a cause we hold very dearly. Losing a sibling is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life, but in Maggie's name we are making this into something positive and helping other kids realize the true joy a wish can bring....and Maggz wouldn't have it any other way!"
-Christopher Bye, October 30, 2014
(Maggie's older brother Chris)
Together, we can make an impact on the life of a child.
