3YearOld MakeAWish Kid Receives a Unique Gift to 'Do the Thing She Loves' Toria SheffieldSeptember 13, 2025 at 1:00 PM 1 Blair Begbie Rowan Begbie A 3yearold MakeAWish recipient in Tennessee received her dream gift: a hot tub Rowan Begbie of Knoxville loves water, and her parents say she needed a pl...
- - 3-Year-Old Make-A-Wish Kid Receives a Unique Gift to 'Do the Thing She Loves'
Toria SheffieldSeptember 13, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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Blair Begbie
Rowan Begbie -
A 3-year-old Make-A-Wish recipient in Tennessee received her dream gift: a hot tub
Rowan Begbie of Knoxville loves water, and her parents say she needed a place to relax at the end of days filled with countless medical appointments
Rowan has a rare degenerative condition called Sanfilippo syndrome, which affects less than 1% of the population
A 3-year-old Make-A-Wish kid in Tennessee just received a unique gift: a hot tub.
Rowan Begbie of Knoxville lives with Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects the brain and central nervous system, per local news outlet WATE 6. Rowan loves water, and on Aug. 26, Make-A-Wish East Tennessee installed a hot tub in the Begbie family's backyard.
Blair Begbie
Rowan Begbie in her new hot tub
Her parents, Bryan and Blair Begbie, told the outlet that the tub creates the perfect way for their daughter to unwind amid her countless medical appointments.
"She really just needed a place — a respite — every day for her to just do the thing she loves. And that's being in the water," Rowan's father said during a video interview with WATE 6.
"She's already spent so much time in it and is gonna love it so much," her mother added.
Blair Begbie
Rowan (center) with her parents and siblings
Garrett Wagley, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish East Tennessee, told the outlet that while the organization grants dozens of wishes a year, Rowan's stood out.
"She's just a really sweet kid, and [they're] a great family going through a tough medical journey. And a wish is an opportunity to give hope and joy to a child who's in the middle of that struggle and give them something to look forward to and celebrate them being a child," he said.
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Rowan was diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome at 2 years old after a member of the community called the Begbies and suggested they get her genetically tested, per WBIR.
"If we hadn't gotten that call, we could've gone years without knowing," Rowan's dad told the outlet at the time. "Awareness is everything."
In an email to PEOPLE, Rowan's mom, Blair, said that the family was able to get Rowan into a clinical trial at UNC Chapel Hill, and they currently drive 12 hours round-trip to Knoxville for the weekly treatment. She went on to share further details of her daughter's condition, as well as the implications of the disease for Rowan and children like her.
"[Rowan gets] an infusion of the enzyme she's lacking. That particular enzyme is necessary to remove waste in the human body. Over time, those wastes cause progressive neurological damage," she said. "Sanfilippo is often characterized as children's Alzheimer's. Kids eventually lose the ability to talk, walk and feed themselves. We hope this trial helps slow the progression and gives her a better quality of life."
She added, "This rare disease is heartbreaking, and we hope someday there is an approved treatment or even a cure."
The family has since established a foundation called Rally for Rowan, which aims to "support families impacted by Sanfilippo syndrome through community engagement, charitable programs and funding medical research," per the email.
The family is also currently working toward what they say is urgently needed FDA approval on new treatments for the disease.
Sanfilippo syndrome affects about 1 in every 50,000 to 250,000 children, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
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