Seventh grader Gabby LoPresti was talking on Skype with her friend, Savannah, when she received the phone call.  After hearing the news, she immediately ran upstairs to tell her sister, senior Elaina.  “Laina,” she said, “I’m going to meet the Jonas Brothers!”

After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on November 3, 2009, LoPresti endured nine chemotherapy treatments in seven months.  During that time, she contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation with the hope that they would grant her a wish.

“Make-A-Wish told me to pick two wishes just in case they couldn’t grant the first one I picked,” LoPresti said.  Her first wish was to meet the Jonas Brothers, her favorite band, at a concert someplace outside of Maryland.  If that wish could not be granted, she her second choice was to make a cake with Buddy Valastro from the TV show “Cake Boss.”

Either wish would have satisfied LoPresti, now cancer-free, but she was overjoyed to find out that her first wish had been granted.  She could barely contain her excitement as she listened to the details of the event.  As soon as she hung up the phone, she told her friend what happened and they both “just went crazy!” according to LoPresti.

Two weeks after the Make-A-Wish phone call, LoPresti and her family went to Jones Beach, New York, for the concert and a meet-and-greet with the band.  “I was so nervous at first,” LoPresti said, “but as soon as I met them, they hugged me and thanked me for picking them as my Make-A-Wish.  They asked me a bunch of questions and were so nice.  I was so excited, [and] I knew that I made the right choice for my wish.”

During the meet-and-greet, LoPresti’s mother, Maria, started crying.  “[Nine months ago] she didn’t think that we would be in New York meeting the Jonas Brothers and that I would be cancer-free,” LoPresti said.  “Kevin hugged [Maria] and told her that everything was going to be okay and that it was their pleasure to grant my wish.”

According to LoPresti, the Jonas Brothers were funny and kind, as was the rest of their crew.  “At the end of the meet-and-greet, Big Rob, their security guard, stopped me and joked around with me, saying that I was lucky that I had more hair than he did,” LoPresti said.

After meeting the band, LoPresti and her family took their front row seats and saw the “Camp Rock” cast, Demi Lovato, and the Jonas Brothers perform.  They performed all of her favorite songs, including “S.O.S.” and “Year 3000.”

Elaina echoed her younger sister’s words about being “so thankful” that the Jonas Brothers could grant the wish.  “For as much as my sister went through this year, I was so happy to see such a big smile on her face that was brought to her by the Jonas Brothers,” she said.

Jenny Hottle can be reached for comment at [email protected]