“The halibut was by far the biggest fish he’s ever caught, and the trip was everything he thought it would be — the mountains, people, fishing,” Brallier said. “He’s beside himself with how much of a good time he’s had.”

While an infant, serious health conditions brought Joshua to the attention of Make A Wish, an organization that grants wishes to children battling life-threatening illnesses. By the time he was 2 years old, he had undergone two liver transplants. When he was three, the foundation granted him a wish he could request anytime before he turned 18.

As his 18th birthday neared, Joshua spent hours fine-tuning his dream.

“He’s just been contemplating and contemplating for 15 years as to what he wanted to do with his wish,” Walt Brallier said. “He waited two months before he turned 18, and through research and everything else, he picked Homer to come halibut fishing. It’s the halibut capital of the world, it’s very remote and it gave him the ability to see a good piece of Alaska by us flying into Anchorage and driving to Homer.”

An avid fisherman — a sport he enjoys with his father, his uncle Danny and his 15-year-old cousin Mike — it was no wonder Joshua chose a fishing trip. But his wish was to hook something bigger than he was used to catching.

“We’re kind of a tight group and fish a lot of flounder,” Brallier said of fishing the four family members enjoy in Pennsylva-nia. “They’re pretty small in comparison to halibut. A good fish is five, six pounds.”

In addition to fishing, Joshua asked for two more considerations to round out his Alaska experience.

“(Make A Wish) asked him to write down exactly what his wish was, and he wanted a cabin instead of a hotel, and (Make A Wish) was considerate enough to let my brother and nephew come along with us. Time to spend together is what Joshua wanted,” Brallier said.

While in Homer, the family stayed at Ed and Sheryl Sotelo’s Moose Creek Cabins.

“They were so appreciative, so impressive and such an inspiration. They were so happy they got to come, and it was all they had hoped. They were thrilled,” Sheryl Sotelo said.

The accommodations were coordinated by Make A Wish.

“The lady from the foundation worked with us to make sure the cabin was the kind of setting that wasn’t in town and seemed kind of rustic and met what Joshua had hoped for,” Sotelo said. “They worked really hard to fulfill his wish.”

Duncan House Diner, owned by Brad and Barb Gamble, provided lunches for the three days the Bralliers were fishing, as well as breakfast the one day they stayed on shore.

Their memory-making halibut fishing experience was spent with Capt. Chris Babb of Kache Halibut Charters.

“We tried a couple of different places, but the tide was so strong it was tough to hold (the spot), and we weren’t getting a bite, so Capt. Chris would pick up and move us. At the second or third spot, the rod got a hit and Joshua was first up on the rod. We videotaped the whole thing, from when he hooked it until he got it in the boat,” Brallier said of the 45-inch halibut caught by his son.

“It was an unbelievable fish. For us to compare that thing to a flounder…there is no comparison. It really made the trip complete for Josh.”

As the foursome prepared to leave Homer Saturday, they praised everyone that made Joshua’s adventure a success, including Make A Wish Foundation, Babb, the Sotelos and the Gambles.

“You only get one shot at something like this, and you have to thank the people that made it all happen,” Brallier said.

As happy as he was to see his son’s wish come true, there was something even more important for Brallier.

“Josh is probably one of the luckiest (liver) transplant kids,” he said. “They suffer from being small, and when he was in the fifth grade, he was smaller than kindergarten kids. He is definitely past that now. Health wise, we have everything to be thankful for. I can’t remember the last time he was sick. And that is definitely better than the halibut.”

Make A Wish Foundation was founded in 1980, has a network of more than 25,000 volunteers and has touched the lives of more than144,000 people around the world. To learn more about the foundation, visit the Web at www.wish.org/.