July 18, 2001 Jake describing his wish.
"My day is finally here. I’m up really early because I tossed and turned all night anticipating today. So how its going to work is that were going to meet Nova, a Make-A-Wish representative from the Seattle Chapter who will escort us to the venue. 
I can’t believe the day is finally here...I’m feeling somewhat nervous but really excited at the same time. My day so far has been nothing short of wonderful simply because I awoke to my parents bringing me breakfast in bed and that doesn’t happen very often. I never thought that would happen so something as little as that is greatly appreciated on my behalf. So anyways..we arrived in town 2 days ago and the trip didn’t go without a few surprises along the way. My sister told me that there would be a surprise at the airport the day we left but what that would be I’d just have to wait and find out. It turns out 15 of my really good friends showed up at the airport at 5:30 am to wish me a great time on my trip. That meant a lot to me and it really was a perfect way to start my wish. Once in town we took it easy for the first day but yesterday was a whole different story. We started the day off by going to the aquarium in the morning and then a Seattle Mariner’s baseball game for the afternoon. The baseball game was really fun mostly for us guys. My dad is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and me and Greg played baseball together on the same team so we all had a great appreciation of those 3 hours at the stadium. It looks like that’s it for now..I’ll be back tonight with the good stuff!"
11:45 pm 
I’m back and still in shock so bare with me. I’m going to do my best to remember exactly what happened in the order it occurred. Around 3:30 in the afternoon we all went and met Nova(Make-A-Wish representative) in the hotel lobby and she escorted us in a limo to St. Michelle’s Winery where everything took place. When we arrived at the winery there were crowds of people outside of the show and it was funny because they thought we were the band so my dad rolled the window down a crack and stuck his hand out and waved to the folks. That was a way to ease the tension in the car and it brought laughter to a nervous situation. When we got out of the car I could hear the band already playing so soon after we were escorted over to sound check so we could watch. We were the only people at their sound check and when it concluded I finally was able to meet the people who’s music had such an impact on my life. I came up with some questions to ask them on the way over and they were nice enough to answer them while I recorded it for keeps sake. To be honest before I met them I was really unsure of how everything would unfold and how they would act towards me but once I met them they were all incredibly nice to me. After sound check Matt(bassist) brought me on their tour bus and Dave Bryson(guitarist) even let me pick 2 songs that I wanted them to play. I went with ‘Have You Seen Me Lately’ and ‘Catapult’ because I feel those were the ones that gave me the confidence boost to want to beat my disease and to take the steps that I needed to in order to get out of the hospital. So after that Tom(tour manager) was nice enough to show us around the winery and even gave us t-shirts. We went out to dinner and when we returned it was time for the big show. There was a really cool opening act that went on before the Counting Crows..his name is Glenn Phillips and he used to be the front man of the band ‘Toad of the Wet Sprocket’. Although he was really good my main focus was on the band that would follow. The feelings I got when they came on stage was nothing I have ever felt before. It was such an adrenaline rush on top of pure excitement that was well needed and deserved on my part. The show was amazing just like I knew it would be but the highlight of my night was when Adam(head-singer) dedicated one of the songs to me. Dang this is getting long so I better finish up. After the concert we went backstage and had the opportunity to hang out with each band member and talk with them on a more personal level. Adam was so genuinely nice because he sat down with me and my family for like an hour to talk to us about everything and anything. I did get my fair share of autographs and pictures with them but it was just as well so I could get it out of my system haha. Another really cool thing that happened to me was when Matt(bassist) gave me his e-mail address and told me he wanted to stay in touch. Each and everyone of those guys treated me so great and I’m so excited things fell in place the way they did. After we said out goodbyes the car ride home was full of laughter and excitement which was lacking in my life..so it was nice for everything to come together in such a great way. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to fall asleep after all of this! So that’s basically everything and the good new is that I still have another 5 days in Seattle to still have fun. That’s all for now..glad things went the way they did!
