We usually relate the name John Cena to a successful professional wrestler, a part time rapper and an accomplished actor.
Originally from Massachusetts, he moved to California in 1998 at the age of 21 pursuing a bodybuilding career. He switched to wrestling the following year and won his first of five singles US Championships in 2004.
Cena is tied with the legendary Ric Flair with 16 WWE Championships, a 4-time Tag Team Champion, a 2-time Royal Rumble winner and headlined WWE’s flagship event Wrestlemania five times. He had been the face of WWE’s “Be a star” anti-bullying campaign.
He got involved in charity work and eventually, Cena found his way to Make-A-Wish foundation where he granted his first wish in 2002.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization that fulfills wishes of children aged 2 to 18 years old diagnosed with terminal illness. The foundation is inspired by 7-year old leukemia patient Christopher James Greicius who wanted to become a police officer 42 years ago.
Chris befriended a US Customs official who in turn coordinated with officers at the Arizona Department of Public Safety which planned an experience to lift his spirits. For a day, Chris became a police officer with a custom-tailored police uniform, rode in a police helicopter and was sworn in as Arizona’s first honorary Public Safety Patrolman. He died several days later.
The foundation lets children choose among the five categories - I wish to go, I wish to see, I wish to be, I wish to meet and I wish to give.
Cena is the children’s most requested celebrity and the Guinness World Record confirmed, as per their totals, that he had granted an impressive 650 wishes. In interacting with the children, Cena usually brings along some of his championship belts and takes photos with them. He sometimes takes them to the wrestling ring.
“If you ever need me for this ever, I don’t care what I’m doing, I’ll drop whatever I’m doing and be involved because I think that’s the coolest thing. I just drop everything. If I can offer a fantastic experience, I’ll be first in line to do my part”, Cena said.
In June of 2020, in response to the #MatchaMillion initiative made popular by the K-pop band BTS, Cena donated $1 miilion to Black Lives Matter.
With his signature wrestling move, Cena powerbombed other other celebrities by granting more than 400 wishes to these vulnerable kids. Ironically, Cena is not in favor of having children of his own because he does not want to be an absentee parent.