Kyleigh is a sweet 8-year-old who loves to smile and play outside. She’s also fond of coloring and reading, and her favorite subject in school is spelling. Kyleigh’s favorite performer is Justin Beiber and her favorite movies are Disney movies. She also loves playing with her toy guitar and she plans on becoming a rock star someday.

At 3 years old, Kyleigh was falling often and couldn’t walk. After going to a doctor, Kyleigh diagnosed with a condition called ataxia-optomotor apraxia. This condition causes progressive difficulty with movement. This has caused Kyleigh to have low muscle tone and it also affects her hand movements and speech and she is now using a wheelchair for mobility.

For her wish, Kyleigh wants to enjoy some time at Walt Disney World with her parents and her younger sister. Get ready to experience some real magic, Kyleigh, because your wish is about to come true!

Wish: Samsung Galaxy WiFi Tablet
Wish Type: Commodity

Corbin is a quiet and cool teen who loves chemistry, biology, and saltwater fish. He enjoys baseball, especially the Houston Astros, and playing video games on his Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360. Corbin also likes eclectic music and scary movies. He is described by his family as being intelligent and focused.

Corbin has been diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. This type of cancer is rare and difficult to recognize early on. It develops behind the nose, near the back of the throat, and in many cases shows symptoms similar to a cold or sinus infection. Initially Corbin’s doctor speculated that there was nothing to worry about, until his symptoms began to affect his hearing and sight. When the cancer was discovered it had already reached stage four. Corbin has since undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatments as well as required the use of a feeding tube.

For his wish, this courageous teen would love a Samsung Galaxy Tablet. Let your intellect be your guide, Corbin, because this galactic wish is about to come true!

Megan is a bright teen who loves animals and enjoys horseback riding. She’s a great student and she particularly likes her science classes. Megan’s favorite music is by Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber and her favorite movies are from the “Twilight” series.

Before she turned four, Megan was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disease called cystinosis. This condition causes an amino acid called cystine to build up in the body. The cystine crystallizes and gathers in the kidneys, eyes, liver, muscles, pancreas, brain and white blood cells, causing kidney failure. Because of this condition, both of Megan’s kidneys were removed and she was placed on dialysis before undergoing a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, because of the aggressive nature of this disease, Megan may need another kidney transplant in the future. She currently takes medications every six hours and her condition is closely monitored.

For her wish, Megan wants to get out and enjoy the great outdoors while staying at a dude ranch. She wants to see mountains and possibly even watch a cattle drive! Get ready for a wild time, Megan, because your wish is about to come true!

Wish: Stay at a Dude Ranch
Wish Type: Travel

Taylor is a creative teen who loves doing arts and crafts projects. Her favorite color is pink and her favorite movies are Disney movies. She enjoys the music of Lady Antebellum and her favorite subject in school is childhood development.

When she was 13 years old, Taylor fainted and was taken to the hospital, where doctors tried to figure out what was the matter with her. After three and a half years, she was finally diagnosed with an extremely rare autosomal disease called Muckle-Wells syndrome that causes fevers, rashes, joint pains and hearing loss because the body’s immune system attacks itself. In addition, Taylor’s doctors discovered that she suffered from intestinal malrotation – where the intestines are shifted and rotated out of their normal positions in the abdomen – and intussusception of her lower intestines – where a section of one of her lower intestines prolapses into another. Taylor also suffers from dysmotility, a condition in which the small intestine’s ability to move digestive secretions and enzymes through the body is impaired or stopped altogether. Because of all her conditions, Taylor has already undergone 4 procedures and has no intestinal usage; she is completely dependent on IV nutrition, as her stomach no longer works. Taylor takes 10 medications a day, receives a shot every five days and she suffers frequent spinal pressure, headaches and fainting spells.

For her wish, Taylor just wants to get away from all of her daily stressors and enjoy a nice family vacation in “the happiest place on Earth” – Disney World! Get ready to experience some magic, Taylor, because your wish is about to come true!

Wish: Disney World
Wish Type: Theme Parks

The mission of the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch is to “prevent delinquency and develop strong, lawful, resilient, and productive citizens who will make a positive contribution to our communities for years to come.” In other words, the Youth Ranch is a place for at-risk children to stay where they can learn important life skills to help them cope with the situations they are faced with.

My contact there was Thomas Combs and, after his representatives came and picked up our gift bank of toys, he called me as soon as the truck made it to their facility. He said that he rushed over to look for himself because he was so curious as to what we sent. He said that when he walked in, he was absolutely wowed by the sheer amount and quality of the products that we had given him. The one thing that really caught his eye was a giant stuffed panda.
He went on to tell me that the other day, they opened up a ‘sibling cottage’ for families to come and stay together and one of their youngest children that will be arriving is 4 and the giant panda would be a great ‘welcome’ gift. Thomas said that he was so happy and grateful for what we had given them that he just wanted to call us right away and thank us personally.

I was overjoyed when I heard his thanks. I felt so good. It made me happy and proud that we were able to help them out.

Jeannette
Programs Dept.

Then, in April of last year, she got a fever that wouldn’t go away. Her mother, Laura, took Cassie to the emergency room and the ER doctor suggested a trip to the family doctor for some tests. Laura thought it was the flu. Who needs tests for that? So they put the appointment off.

But Cassie’s swollen lymph nodes kept growing and soon they began to dig into her wind pipe. So, Laura made an appointment for a CT scan. A CT scan is a series of X-rays taken at different angles which can create a whole picture of a body’s interior. Cassie’s doctor assumed that a scan of her head and neck would be enough, but then, just before the appointment, Cassie had an accident on her three wheeler, and her doctor ordered an entire upper body scan.

The scan revealed lymphoma, and not just in her lymph nodes, but inside her lungs, too. All at once her life had a clear purpose, and that was survival. It meant giving up a lot of what she loved. Weakened by chemotherapy, the girl who loved the outdoors found herself stuck indoors.

“Basically you had to stay in all day and you couldn’t do anything except watch television or play videogames or do homework,” Cassie said. “And I liked going outside and doing stuff.”

Meanwhile, Laura was thinking about the future, about Cassie’s recovery. For years, Laura had been donating money to the Kids Wish Network, a national charity that offers to fulfill the wishes of children with life threatening illnesses.

“I’d heard about the Kids Wish Network when my friend’s kid had cystic fibrosis,” Laura said. “Her husband was in contact with them and so I began donating.”

She never figured she’d be on the receiving end, but in April, when Cassie was diagnosed, she asked her daughter what she would wish for. Cassie wanted a new camera. She already had plans for after her recovery.
Throughout most of last year, Cassie made regular trips to St. Jude’s pediatric cancer hospital in Memphis. Cassie had never liked going to the doctor, but then during those hours she spent in St. Jude’s, something funny happened.

“The doctors there, they keep you laughing all the time and they keep explaining what they’re doing,” she said. “And no matter what, they remember your name. Sometimes they’ll call you just to ask how you’re doing.”

Her mother said that once, when Cassie was on the mend, a doctor called their house between regularly scheduled visits. “He said, ‘I just had to call because I haven’t seen Cassie in a couple of days,’” Laura said. “It was the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen.”

Cassie, who is home schooled, did not miss any of her classes, and she said her cancer treatment was an education of its own.

“I feel like I’ve learned more stuff over the past year, basically,” she said. “You learn stuff at St. Jude’s.”

By September her cancer was in remission. Her trips to St. Jude’s grew less frequent and she began to get healthier, stronger. She began to go outside again, and she managed to get a full season of hunting in last year, although even now she still avoids a crowd at Walmart.

Then, the week of Christmas, she got a box from Kids Wish Network. Inside she found games, a hat, a scarf and a brand new Olympus E-PL3, a 12 megapixel digital camera known for its fast autofocus and shutter speed and for its interchangeable lenses.

“My old camera didn’t take the same pictures that you’d see,” Cassie said. “The Olympus gives you a clear picture and with the zoon lens, you can get closer than with the Vivitar.”

In the month she’s had the new camera, she’s already been out along the levee taking photos of cows, pigs and the Mississippi outdoors. She hasn’t had a chance to take her new camera to her parent’s hunting camp, but she’d like to.

And, weeks away from her 18th birthday, as she wraps up high school, she’s giving college a thought.
“If I do go to college, I’d like to become a child life specialist at St. Jude’s,” Cassie said. “They work with the patients and bring toys and crafts to the kids.”

Laura said that many of the doctors, nurses, child life specialists and even janitors at the hospital had first come as children.

“So many of them had been patients there, but then they’d come back,” Laura said. “It’s just that great.”

The Clarksdale Press Register
Clarksdale, Mississippi

When Gary Burrell of Baltimore woke up on Friday the 13th, he may not have been expecting a terribly unlucky day, but he certainly was not expecting to have the amazing day he ended up experiencing. Although his morning started out normally in his job as a postal worker, he received a call in the afternoon that would change his life.

The seemingly innocuous phone call started with the caller asking Mr. Burrell if he had entered the 2011 Corvette Dream Giveaway, to which he responded that he had. On December 13th, Mr. Burrell made a $100 tax-deductible donation to national children’s charity Kids Wish Network after seeing advertisements for the Giveaway in various car magazines.

“In my spare time I enjoy reading car magazines as well as watching sports,” he said. “When I saw the ad for the 2011 Corvette Dream Giveaway, I thought I would enter and take a chance at winning.”

Now in its third year, the Corvette Dream Giveaway supports Kids Wish Network’s unique Hero of the Month program, which benefits thousands of children facing unfortunate circumstances and are in the care of hospitals, shelters and other care facilities nationwide. Through this program, young “Heroes” from these facilities are recognized and awarded each month for their bravery and courage in dealing with traumatic life-altering situations such as illnesses, homelessness or abuse.

“I knew even if I didn’t win, I would still be helping out a great cause,” said Mr. Burrell. “I like donating to charities and will continue to donate in the future.”

When the caller announced that Mr. Burrell was, in fact, the randomly selected winner out of thousands of entries for the 2011 Corvette Dream Giveaway, he was astonished into disbelief:

“I was both shocked and excited. It was hard to believe at first, but it is finally starting to sink in that this is really true.”

Both the 1963 Split Window Corvette Coupe and the one-of-a-kind 2011 Corvette Hero Edition ZR1, along with $50,000 in cash to help with the taxes, will be presented to Mr. Burrell during a special ceremony in Michigan later this year.

For both Mr. Burrell and the children for whom the proceeds from the popular Corvette Dream Giveaway will benefit, Friday, January 13th proved to be a very lucky day indeed.

—
Kids Wish Network is a nationally recognized charitable organization dedicated to infusing hope, creating happy memories, and improving the quality of life for children having experienced life-altering situations. For more information on Kids Wish Network, visit their website at www.kidswishnetwork.org

Corvette Dream Giveaway is a sweepstakes to benefit the children served by Kids Wish Network’s Hero program. For more information on the Corvette Dream Giveaway, visit their website at www.winthevettes.com

# # #

Dear Anna,

Respectfully,
William Palmisano Jr.
Executive Director
Mary Help of Christians Foundation Inc.

Alicia
Editorial Dept.

Kyle, a 14-year-old freshman at Mount Anthony Union High School, has a rare condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia that keeps his body from regulating the amount of androgen it produces. In addition, Kyle is diagnosed with autism, anxiety, insulin resistance, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and sleep disturbances. He has also needed corrective surgery on his legs and feet to lengthen his Achilles’ tendons, leaving him with limited mobility.

Through an opportunity presented by Kids Wish Network, Kyle and his family were able to forget about doctor’s office visits the second they stepped foot on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where his uncle, Staff Sgt. James Brumbaugh, is stationed.

Upon arrival, Kyle received a flight suit and a 355th Training Squadron patch with his name on it before being asked to recite the Oath of Office.

He was then given a full day of activities — starting with a morning meeting for Air Force pilots (he and his family were told they were not allowed to attend a second meeting members of the Air Force then attended).

“I wasn’t allowed to go in their other meeting because it was classified,” said the 14-year-old from Pownal.

Kyle had the opportunity to sit inside the cockpit of an A-10 and then equip one with a mock missile made of concrete and metal. Those experiences were great he said, although they paled in comparison to his favorite part of the trip, when he got to fly an A-10 training simulator. Comfortable inside the cockpit of the simulator, Kyle took the $1 million piece of machinery on a “support mission” over Tucson during which he engaged in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat on a screen in front of him.

“I got to take out tanks, but the thing that finally got me was a SAM missile launcher, a surface-to-air missile launcher,” he said. “I was able to land. I was thinking I could still fly, I’ve heard stories of these things flying with only one engine. They told me to land, I didn’t want to. I wanted to get that thing so bad,” he said, replaying the scenario over in his head as he sat at his grandmother’s kitchen table with a face full of excitement.

The simulator used to train pilots was unlike anything Kyle had ever experienced.

“It’s nothing like a video game,” Kyle said. “It’s so much more accurate. There’s more detail.”

Kyle also received a personal tour of the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, often referred to as the “Boneyard,” where more than 4,000 aircraft from all branches of the U.S. military are kept.

On the tour, Kyle saw servicemen working on the wings of a Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II.

“I think the interesting thing about this plane is it was the last plane Fairchild Republic made and they were known for making the P-47 Thunderbolt. They call this one the Thunderbolt II, or the warthog is it’s nickname,” Kyle said as he pointed to a picture of the plane signed by members of the Air Force who he met.

As a tour guide walked them through the Boneyard, Kyle’s grandmother, Mary Dupuis, said Kyle rattled off the names of the planes and details about the history of the aircraft that even the guide didn’t know.

Kyle, who is an honor student, said he’s always enjoyed reading books and articles online about the military and wars.

Although his autism and plates in his feet may prevent it, Kyle said he still dreams of joining the military.

“I don’t know if that will happen, but I have just wanted to for a long time,” he said.

If that opportunity is not in his future, Kyle will still be able to say he’s been a pilot for a day — which is a day more than most.

“It was just so fun when I was there,” Kyle said.

Kids Wish Network, which ponsored the trip, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to granting the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.

Bennington Banner
Bennington, Vermont
Source:
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/ci_19787258

In fact, I just got one of these submitted by the parents of Kaylee, who suffered a very, VERY traumatic experience that started off like a seemingly normal stomach virus. I would like to share little Kaylee’s story with you now:

Kaylee, who was 5 yrs old at the time, came down with a low grade fever on a Sunday back in May of 2011. We gave her Motrin and sent her to bed. The next morning she could barely get out of bed, fever was 100.2 and we kept her home from school. She said she couldn’t walk to the bathroom without pain. We assumed she just had an awful stomach virus and by that night my husband called our Doctor and he wanted to see her first thing Tuesday morning. By this time she was throwing up all of Monday night.

Tuesday, we brought her to the office and her doctor said it was just a flu and sent us home. She acted a little better on the way home, even had the lollipop the nurse gave her. Tuesday night she felt awful and could only drink, not eat. We sent her to bed with more Motrin and a prescription nausea med the doctor gave her. Tuesday night, she had a high fever and was suffering terrible bouts of vomiting and other problems every hour. We called the doctor in the morning and he said he could prescribe something for the pain. We said no and that we were taking her to ER.

In the ER, we waited for about an hour and a half with my husband holding Kaylee. He later said that he was worried that he felt Kaylee slipping away. The ER staff took her in and put a nose tube in her right away and green mucus started pumping out of her. They were not concerned and thought it was a stomach flu. I begged them to do a scan of her tummy. They did and they couldn’t find anything – it was too dark in the area and they were thinking it was bile and bowel.

They kept her overnight and she was fading in and out. She was very bad and the drain that was in her nose that went to her tummy was draining dark green, almost black liquid. My doctor came to see her and was surprised to see how bad she was. He demanded that she get life-flighted to a Children’s Hospital that was two hours away.

Once there, they rushed her into surgery and 2 and half hours later it was confirmed her appendix burst and spread throughout her body. They took her intestines out and cleaned them and put them back before stitching her up. A few days later she went in again they didn’t get it all. They did this 3 more times, each in a different area. She had to have blood transfusions. She got pneumonia. She had a PIC tube placed in her arm. There were drains coming out of her tummy…she was a trooper the whole time.

She was finally able to leave the hospital 4 weeks later on her birthday. She is doing well now and it was to her excitement when the hospital chose her as a Hero. She really enjoyed shopping with her Walmart gift card after her final visit to her surgeon. Thank you, Kids Wish Network and a great big thanks to Janet Weiss Childrens Hospital in Danville, PA.

Hattie
Programs Dept.