Boy’s wish takes him to New York and set of ‘Iron Chef’

‘IRON CHEF’ TRAINEE—Ben Ostertag, 6, meets Mark Dacascos of TV’s “Iron Chef.” Ben and his family traveled to New York, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, to visit the set of the popular cooking show. Wellknown to adult food aficionados around the country, TV chef Bobby Flay doesn’t usually count toddlers among his fan base.

But 6-year-old Ben Ostertag of Camarillo has been one of Flay’s biggest fans for at least three years.

Recently Ben met his idol and attended a taping of “Iron Chef,” one of his favorite TV shows, when Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Tri-Counties flew him and his family to New York for a five-day stay.

“We’re so appreciative and grateful,” said Ben’s mother, Amy Ostertag. “We’re very touched by all the love, but Make-A-Wish went over the top.”

Doctors told Amy and Lee Ostertag in February 2008 that their youngest son had a cancerous tumor that was displacing most of the left side of his brain.

Doctors removed as much of the tumor as they could in surgery and recommended the then 5-year-old undergo intensive inpatient chemotherapy treatment at a Los Angeles hospital. For the next eight months, Ben and Amy lived at the hospital and apart from the rest of their family.

Word spread about the miniature chef’s condition. While Ben was in the hospital, a chef in Las Vegas sent him a chef’s coat, and Mark Dacascos, “Chairman” on “Iron Chef,” visited him twice. A couple of people also nominated Ben to MakeAWish of the TriCounties.

When Ben returned home from the hospital last fall, he was too ill to participate in a wish. But MakeAWish volunteers returned several months later. They couldn’t grant Ben’s first wish: He wanted a friend to be well enough to leave the hospital.

Amy said Ben has always been a loving and thoughtful boy.

Make-A-Wish volunteers asked Ben his next choice. He wanted to cook in Iron Chef’s Kitchen Stadium.

Ben, whom the Ostertags adopted from Korea in 2004, has always had a passion for food and cooking. At age 3, he toddled up to the grill where Amy was preparing kabobs and asked if she remembered to pre-soak the skewers. When she prepares dinner, he’ll suggest spices to add. During chemotherapy treatment when he was being fed through a tube and unable to eat by mouth, Ben said watching the TV food show “Barefoot Contessa” might make him feel better.

Although safety restrictions prevented MakeAWish from granting Ben’s wish to cook on the TV show, the nonprofit could deliver the next best thing: fly Ben and his family to New York to meet Bobby Flay and watch Flay at work on the floor of Kitchen Stadium.

Amy said the wish benefited everyone in the family—including Nathan, 17, Tyler, 14 and Jack, 9—Ben’s older brothers.

It’s been a stressful, chaotic and exhausting time for the Ostertags. In addition to the toll taken on the family by Ben’s illness, Lee has had to run his imaging-product business, care for their three sons and make time to visit Amy and Ben at the hospital, while the older Ostertag boys have had to live without their mother and youngest brother for nearly a year.

Also, the family remains affected by the loss in 2000 of 18

month-old Madison, the Ostertag’s only daughter.

When Ben’s diagnosis came last year, “we were all scared out of our minds,” Amy said.

The trip to New York not only gave the family the opportunity to watch Ben enjoy his wish but also allowed them a break from hospitals and doctors and time to bond again as a family, Amy said.

In addition, the community has rallied behind the family throughout the ordeal. Ben’s classmates at Dos Caminos Elementary School have sent him getwell cards; a Camarillo service club contributed money for Christmas gifts; a dentist donated her services, and neighbors and church members have prepared meals for the family.

“To feel the love and support . . . it’s easier to endure when you have a community rooting for you,” Amy said

The stress from Ben’s illness has eased somewhat. His cancer is in remission, but he must undergo a brain scan every three months. Each time, the family members hold their breath, hoping for a positive outcome. Also, Amy must take Ben to weekly doctor appointments.

Ben faces other challenges. Born with cerebral palsy, he’s learning to walk again. Cancer treatments set back his progress. Ben is legally blind; pressure from the tumor caused him to lose most of his eyesight. Also, chemotherapy wiped out much of his hearing and as a result left him with a speech impediment.

But Ben is resilient. Swollen, weak and bald from chemotherapy when he came home from the hospital in September, Ben now sports a full head of hair and patters around the house and up and down the stairs in the two-story house. He seems to stop talking only when he’s watching TV.

“He’s just an unstoppable force,” Amy said.

Shanna Wasson Taylor, director of Make-A-Wish of the Tri-Counties, said the nonprofit grants 75 to 80 wishes a year to children with a life-threatening medical condition in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Donations to the Venturabased agency are holding steady in some categories, she said, but are down in others.

“I’m more concerned than I have been in the past because we’re completely reliant on people for donations . . . and their ability to give,” Wasson Taylor said.

Expenses to grant wishes, on the other hand, are up. The largest avoidable expense for the nonprofit is airfare, she said. Occasionally an airline will donate airfare for a wish, but Make-A-Wish relies primarily on people to donate their airline miles. MakeAWish Foundation is one of the few charities customers are able to donate miles to, she said.

“That, itself, is a gift,” she said.

For information on donating to MakeAWish of the TriCounties, call Wasson Taylor at (805) 676-9474.