BANGOR – When Michael Carver received his first and only wish from the Make A Wish Foundation at age 3, he was too young to remember very much of his trip to Florida.

Now at 17, Carver is about to undergo a complicated surgical procedure to repair his spine, a surgery that carries with it a risk of death. Carver’s family decided he needed another wish granted.

Carver, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, got his wish Wednesday with help from caseworkers at Allies Inc., a nonprofit mental health agency, and Hartt Transportation Systems Inc., a Bangor trucking company.

The Bangor High School senior took a ride in the front seat of a tractor-trailer with his mom, Debbie Carver, and his sister, Catie Carver, 16.

Hartt’s driver, Doug Martin,took the Carvers to Old Town and Lincoln before returning to Bangor.

The two-hour truck ride was something his Allies Inc. case manager said Carver has always wanted to do – even if it wasn’t a trip to Florida.

“We wanted to give him any wish – no matter how small – at this point,” Hulene Hart said. “He’s such an amazing individual.”

“If you could have heard the phone call when we told [Michael] this was happening, you would have heard squeals of joy,” Hart said.

When Hart contacted Hartt Transportation, the company was more than happy to do its part.

“I was ready to go over with a truck that day,” Rick Parisien, Hartt human resources director, said.

Carver buckled his seat belt inside the truck and smiled as Martin used the hydraulic lift to raise the boy’s seat. When Carver peered out through the windshield and was asked if he could see alright, his reply was “Yeah.”

The young man seemed content to be in the passenger’s seat.

“You wouldn’t catch me driving this,” he said.

Carver was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, also known as pseudohypertropic muscular dystrophy, when he was 3 years old. The genetic disease progresses slowly but eventually affects all voluntary muscles. Survival beyond 25 to 30 years old is rare, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association Web site.

Hart said Carver’s 12-hour surgical procedure, in which doctors will insert a series of rods into his spine, is risky.

“There is a severe risk of death both before and after the surgery,” Hart said. “He will be on a ventilator for three to six months and recovery could take up to a year.”

Carver was supposed to have the surgery on his spine in May but developed pneumonia and had to wait. Hart said he is a little depressed but is ready to take the trip to Boston Children’s Hospital.

“He asks for nothing,” Hart said. “He worries more about his mother than he does about his own condition.”

“He puts the rest of us to shame most days,” Anne Osolinski, another caseworker with Allies Inc., said. “You would never know he had anything wrong with him.”

Hart said Carver’s all-time dream is to go to Disney World, and she is in the process of setting that up. For now, Wednesday’s tractor-trailer ride seemed to give Carver enough of a boost.

As Martin prepared to pull away, Hart asked the boy how happy he was.

“One hundred percent,” he replied.