Undoubtedly one of the most famous Make-A-Wish dreams come true was in 1997 when John Paul Templeton asked to meet Steven Tyler and Aerosmith. They were supposed to meet in Hollywood when the super group was cutting their ‘Pink” video but something came up and the group only had 15 minutes if JP chose to meet them as scheduled. Steven and the guys told the Make-A-Wish representative that if JP waited he, Steven, would do something special for JP. Being a 16 year-old teenager the one thing he didn’t have was patience so me being his dad had to pull the ‘Dad veto” and tell him he had to wait. We finally got a call some thirty days later that Steven and Aerosmith wanted JP to come to New York to visit them so off to New York we went, not having any idea what was in store for him.

Once in New York the band had us picked up in a white limousine and ushered off to their studio. There we met Steven, Brad, Joe, Tom and Joey. Steven and the guys had written a song for JP called ‘Fallen Angel’ (it is the 13th song on their Nine Lives record. We were in Steven’s sound booth with Steven and could see each band member playing their instruments through three sets of the song about kids who die young. It’s the most beautiful song about children who slip through the cracks and pass away far too young.

After the three takes the guys put up a make-shift table where they had flown in live Maine Lobster for JP (his favorite) and a steak for me. We all sat around the table like one big happy family and no one at the table was sick, no one was famous, we were just family chatting like families do. After dinner they let JP play on all of the instruments and they even showed him the sound board and let him fool around. They each signed his electric guitar and gave him more Aerosmith goodies than I’d ever imagined. Wish night was on a Tuesday though Steven liked JP so much he made arrangements to meet us again when JP asked if he would. That Thursday we arrived by Taxi and when we got out and looked up Steven was on the second floor of this glass building with his face pressed up against the glass. JP laughed until Steven made his way down to the street where Steven sat in JP’s wheel chair and JP and I stood for a good two hours and we just talked and talked. The folks walking by were freaking out that Steven Tyler was just sitting there in the wheelchair although they saw that JP was afflicted with something and that we were have some special moments so most just kept walking. A few times I had to wave them on but we appreciated the private time.

Once home Steven would call often. I’d answer the phone and he’d say “Hey! This is Steven T… is JP there? One night I overheard them talking when I heard my son say “That sounds so cool”. When the call was finished JP told me what was said. JP had asked Steven what he was doing and Steven replied “I’m packing for our Nine Lives Tour in Europe. To this JP said “that sounds so cool” and Steven’s reply to him on the phone was “Hey, listen, you get your ass over there and I’ll put you on stage with me!” Of course the next words that came out of my son’s mouth were “Dad can we go, can we go?

We did go of course landing in Barcelona, Spain for the second to last concert of their tour in June of 97 and then over to Madrid for the last concert of their tour. As promised, Steven had JP on a stool center stage for the entire concert in both cities. At both concerts JP and Steven sang “Cry’n” together, nose-to-nose…the crowd went wild! I had the good fortune of being on stage as well; just out of the lights next to their keyboard player, Rusty. Truly surreal, 25,000 beautiful people screaming at the top of their lungs for three hours straight. When the black Mercedes Benz pulled up for Steven he told JP he’d call him and that he loved him and told us we’d always be family.



After the last concert in Madrid we were in the Hard Rock Cafe when the place began to shake; literally like an earthquake. We all got up and looked out the front door to see ten thousand people running down the street; Spain had just won the Soccer World Cup. That night we experienced the wildest party I had ever seen in downtown Madrid.

JP had Osteogenic Sarcoma a.k.a. Bone Cancer.

Read JP's Full Story ↗

YouTube Audio of Aerosmith's "Nine Lives" Concert at the Sports Palace in Madrid, Spain on June 15th, 1997 ↗