The family recently returned from Disney World as part of Dalton Burner’s wish to meet his favorite characters: Phineas and Ferb.

The family of five made the trip under the cloud of extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma, a rare cancerous soft-tissue tumor that had grown in Dalton’s left calf muscle.

His mother, Melissa, said the trip was a dream come true for her son, who was diagnosed with cancer in February 2010, when he was 5 years old.

At the time, Dalton was your typical kid: he loved playing sports and being outside. Since he was young, however, Dalton had complained of a pain in his calf, something that his parents and doctors attributed to growing pains.

“Our other boys went through the same thing,” Melissa said. “We didn’t think it was weird or out of the ordinary in any way.”

One evening, while visiting with friends, a friend of the family compared Dalton’s legs by touch. One leg was unmistakably larger in diameter than the other. The family was left to wonder over the weekend what the significance of their find was, and on Monday, they made an appointment to check on it.

They had an ultrasound done and the physician agreed to meet with the family after hours.

“My heart stopped when the secretary said he wanted to meet with us,” she said. “It was difficult to believe, especially because it’s so rare in adults and almost unheard of in children.”

There was indeed a growth on Dalton’s calf muscle, and the family quickly put Dalton into radiation therapy for five weeks. As part of the therapy, Dalton’s white blood cells decreased, leaving him susceptible to colds and general illness. By the end of the treatment, the growth had shrunk. In May 2010, the tumor was removed by surgery. Having become intertwined in the muscles of his calf, surgeons had to remove muscle, some nerves and part of a ligament as well.

Five months later, before returning for a routine examination, the family found not one new tumor but two – one the size of a marble, the other the size of a golf ball.

“That shows how fast the tumor can grow,” she said.

Through chemotherapy, both tumors were reduced in size over a period of months and Dalton has been cancer free.

“We were all lucky because many of our friends have it so much worse,” she said. “But Dalton was a champ through it all.”

Her son has since returned to being a little boy, which includes playing soccer and T-ball. He returns to the hospital every three months and, if there are no tumors, every six months.

To add to the difficulties, Melissa suffered a cardiac arrest in April 2011. While genetic in nature, she does attribute – at least partially – the condition to the stress the family was under.

“We put my husband through the ringer, that’s for sure,” she said. “Luckily I had the attack on a Saturday morning.”

During the family’s fight, a distant relative of Melissa’s told the Kids Wish Network about Dalton, and the organization emailed the family. Representatives there asked them what Dalton wished for, and Disney World topped the list. A close second was to visit Denver to see the Denver Broncos play football.

Dalton chose Disney World and meeting his favorite cartoon characters, Phineas and Ferb.

To help fund the trip, the Loyal Order of Moose Lodge 2131 held a fish-fry fundraiser.

“This was one of those things where we were looking forward to getting away from it all, and we did,” she said. “We all had a great time.”

Now what does Dalton have to say about his experience, one that few kids his age undergo?

“I wasn’t scared at all,” he said plainly, then recants. “I was scared.”

He’s not so much scared now, though, not with the memories of Disney World and the characters he met there.

“I liked meeting them a lot,” he said of Phineas and Ferb, adding that his next wish is to visit Gator Land in Florida.

In addition to meeting the cartoon characters, the three brothers were invited on stage during the Pirates Dinner Adventure and sworn in as official pirates.

Blue Springs Examiner
Blue Springs, Missouri
Source:
http://www.examiner.net/news/x26165492/Martin-Dalton-s-Disney-wish-granted

She sat in her sparkly princess dress at the Bippity Boppity Boutique while Cinderella styled her hair and painted her nails. The royal treatment was in preparation for Cinderella’s Royal Dinner and Ball, where she would dance with Prince Charming.

It wasn’t a fairytale. The 4-year-old, cancer survivor and her mother, Katie Woolsey, and sister Mikaella, 1, spent five August days at Disney World after the Kids Wish Network granted her wish.

They rode the rides, visited with Cinderella, spotted Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and spent time at Sea World, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom.

“I found Goofy,” Emma said, “but I didn’t find Pluto or Daisy. We rode the Dumbo Ride and the Magic Carpet ride. It was flying all around! Whee!

“And we went on a water ride to cool off.”

Once upon a time, Emma’s mom wasn’t so sure her daughter’s story would have such a happy ending.

‘Something just wasn’t right’

When Emma was 6-months-old, her mother noticed a problem with her right eye.

“It didn’t move with her other eye when it was supposed to,” said Katie Woolsey, of Lebanon. “I brought it to her pediatrician’s attention because I was worried.”

Her pediatrician diagnosed it as a lazy eye, Katie said. She took Emma home and life went on as usual, even through Katie still worried about her daughter’s eye. It didn’t seem to be getting any better.

By the time Emma was 15 months old and walking, Katie knew something was definitely wrong. Emma couldn’t walk at all without holding on to furniture or clinging to walls.

“I knew something just wasn’t right,” Katie said. “She should have been walking by herself and she just wasn’t. So I took her back to her pediatrician. He took one look at her eye and immediately sent us to Children’s in St. Louis.”

On Jan. 13, 2009, doctors at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis diagnosed bilateral retinoblastoma, a rare cancer that affects approximately one in every 15,000 children. Cancerous tumors were growing on Emma’s optic nerve and she could see nothing out of her right, bright blue eye.

“She couldn’t walk right because she was blind in that eye,” Katie said. “My daughter couldn’t see.”

The eye had to be removed shortly after the initial diagnosis. Then six months of chemotherapy started.

“They had to take it out or it would have spread to her brain,” Katie said. “She has 20/20 vision in her left eye.”

Without treatment, 98 percent of patients with bilateral retinoblastoma die when the cancer spreads to the brain, according to the Digital Journal of Ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School.

The road to recovery

Emma has been in remission for two years, her mother said, but the prosthetic right eye has already been replaced a couple of times to keep up with Emma’s growing skull. It will be replaced several more times before Emma is an adult and regularly replaced her entire life as the surface of the prosthetic wears down.

“Replacing the prosthetic has not been a fun process at all,” Katie said. “But she’s doing good. We still have to go in for checkups to make sure the cancer is gone and it will be like that for a long time.”

The prosthetic eye matches her remaining eye so closely, a casual observer wouldn’t notice the blond, energetic, talkative pre-schooler has an ocular replacement. The prosthetic is attached to a permanent implant in her eye socket that allows the eye to move naturally and in unison with her other eye.

The time of her life

Katie wasn’t surprised when Emma chose Disney World as her wish.

Cinderella is Emma’s favorite princess. Why?

“Because she is,” Emma said. “I like Cinderella and I like Dora.”

She’s getting out of her Dora phase and now it’s all about princesses,” Katie said. “She was excited to go and see Cinderella.”

Emma’s appointment with Cinderella came early one early morning before the park officially opened.

“We got there and it was so quiet because no one was in the park yet,” Katie said. “It was very neat to be able to walk around the park before it opened. That was really special for us.”

Prince Charming asked her to dance during the ball. And Emma discovered that Cinderella’s wicked stepmother and evil stepsisters weren’t all that bad.

“I saw Cinderella’s evil stepmom but she was nice,” Emma said. “And I saw the stepsisters. They were characters.”

At Sea World, Emma “saw dolphins and whales and dolphins and more dolphins,” she said. “I like dolphins.”

It’s a trip Emma and her family will never forget.

“We had a great, great time,” Katie said. “Emma loved it. We all had a wonderful time.”

The Kids Wish Network

What: A national charitable organization dedicated to creating happy memories and improving the quality of life for children who have experienced life-altering situations. Its programs — including granting wishes, providing gifts and books and designating heroes — have helped more than 73,000 children this year.

Local assist: Several local organizations, including Illinois River Energy, the Lebanon Lions Club, Belleville American Legion Post 58 and the Lebanon Women’s Club pitched in to help make Emma’s trip to Disney World memorable.

Belleville News Democrat
Belleville, Illinois
Source:
http://www.bnd.com/2011/09/12/v-print/1854048/for-this-4-year-old-girl-its-a.html

It is a fight that continues to inspire the community — a battle that he and his close-knit family received an invigorating respite from earlier this month.

Werner, who graduated from La Grande High School in 2010, recently visited Disney World in Orlando for three days with his family, a trip completely paid for by the Kids Wish Network, a national charitable organization that helps youths with serious health conditions, and other sponsors.

Werner and his family visited Disney World’s Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom theme parks.

Werner had the time of his life.

“I would love to go back there. We had such a blast,’’ he said.

The Wild Africa Trek at Animal Kingdom was Werner’s favorite. He and his family were transported in a large vehicle through a park-like area filled with African wildlife including cheetahs, lions, wildebeests and more. Werner said he always felt secure. He noted that the animals which could pose threats to people are separated from the main area to provide visitors with further protection. Still, this is not apparent to visitors since animals like the lions and wildebeests are so visible.

Sam visited Orlando with his mother Crystal, father Jamie and sister Tenille. Crystal said the trip boosted everyone’s spirits.

“That was a much-needed getaway from reality. It was perfect,’’ Crystal said.

Her son could not agree more.

“It was invigorating. It was a good opportunity to get away and have a family experience,’’ he said.

Sam was diagnosed in June 2009 with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblasic Leukemia, an aggressive form of childhood leukemia. So serious was his condition that he began receiving chemotherapy treatments the day he was diagnosed. Sam received chemotherapy treatments at least once a week at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Boise for eight months until February 2010 when he entered the maintenance phase of his recovery. For the past year he has received chemotherapy treatments once a month in Boise.

Werner said his condition has improved from a year ago.

“Day to day I feel much better,’’ he said.

Werner, who is interested in pursing a medical career, plans to enroll in classes at Blue Mountain Community College this spring or summer.

The Kids Wish Network provided the Disney World trip to the Werner family with help from La Grande Rotary, Community Bank, Air Link, Ken and Jeanette Knott, Compassion Partners, Wonderworks, Pirates Dinner Adventure Theater, Royal Plaza Hotel, Chevy’s Fresh Mex, Hard Rock Café and Comfort Suites.

Crystal said the trip to Orlando came at an ideal time for her family.

“(The Kids Wish Network) is a blessing for kids. (The trip) was just phenomenal.’’

La Grande Observer
La Grande, Oregon
Source:
http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/Trip-to-Disney-World-boosts-spirits-of-La-Grande-teen-battling-leukemia#

During yet another visit to the hospital, Natasha’s mother, Patience, saw a brochure for Kids Wish Network, a national children’s charity dedicated to granting the wishes of children who have life-threatening illnesses. She felt her daughter might qualify for having a wish granted, so she sent in Natasha’s information and it wasn’t long before she received a call telling her that Natasha was approved for a wish.

When asked what she wanted to wish for, Natasha replied that she wanted only to enjoy a family getaway to Orlando, Fla. to enjoy some of the fantastic theme parks there.

“The whole experience was wonderful,” said Patience. “We loved it and enjoyed it.”

While in Orlando, Natasha and her family were treated like royalty with accommodations at the luxurious Royal Plaza Hotel in Downtown Disney, dinner reservations every evening and, of course, tickets to whatever theme parks that Natasha wanted to visit.

According to Patience, “The dinners were wonderful and the hotel was wonderful…everything was wonderful! It was a wonderful experience and something that I would never have been able to do on my own.”

The parks that Natasha visited were Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center, where she rode all sorts of rides and just had a real blast.

“Natasha had fun,” said Patience. “We all did. She really enjoyed the rides and thought it was the greatest thing in the whole world…It [the wish trip] is a wish-come-true for my children. I think it is the most wonderful and beautiful thing ever.”

Kids Wish Network would like to thank the following for helping to make Natasha’s wish extra special: Compassion Partners, Royal Plaza Hotel, Pirates Dinner Theater, Chili’s Bar & Grill, T.G.I. Friday’s, Longhorn Steakhouse, Oriental-Décor.com and Wonderworks.   

Daily Herald
Woodridge, Illinois
Published: 11/15/2010
Source:
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101115/submitted/101119703/

Her parents, Michael and Paula Kinsaul, took their youngest daughter, then 5 and a kindergartner at Westside Baptist Church, to see a visiting specialist who gave them the news: Sarah had cancer.

Sarah’s cancer is Ewing’s sarcoma, which is a type of bone and soft tissue cancer.

Part of her upper femur had to be removed and replaced with a metal piece to fight the cancer.

She also had to have several bouts of chemotherapy, which she is currently undergoing.

According to her father, Sarah was nominated to be a candidate for Kids Wish Network.

The charity started in 1997 with the goal of granting wishes to children who are suffering from life threatening conditions, according to its website.

Sarah’s first wish was to meet pop star Justin Bieber.

Even for Kids Wish, it was going to be difficult to pull off, so Sarah chose to go to Walt Disney World as her second choice.

The family has never been to the resort in Orlando.

Now, Kids Wish will host a breakfast fundraiser at Fatz Café in Warner Robins Saturday in cooperation with the Warner Robins Police Department and the Houston County Sheriff’s Department to raise money for the wish.

The organization goes to each town where the child who has the wish is and raises money there.

Anything extra will be put back into the program, and if the costs aren’t met, the charity will take the extra from another fundraiser to make sure each child’s wish is granted.

“No money comes to the family,” said Michael Kinsaul.

Kinsaul plans to be at the breakfast Saturday but is unsure whether Sarah will be able to make it. She is undergoing chemotherapy this week in Atlanta and might not feel up to attending.

Her family, though, is thankful for Kids Wish as well as everyone who is making this wish a reality.

“We’re just overwhelmed with the generosity of strangers,” he said. “They just come out of no where.”

The breakfast at Fatz Café will be from 8-10:30 a.m. and costs $7 a ticket.

For more information about the fundraiser, visit www.wrpolice.org or call 293-1087.

Tickets are available at the door and Byron United Methodist Church, where the family is a member, and Westside Baptist Church, where Sarah attended kindergarten.

Macon Telegraph
Macon, Georgia
Published:11/17/2010
Source:
http://www.macon.com/2010/11/17/1342445/breakfast-to-raise-money-for-sick.html#ixzz15YK8jSzX

The fifth-grader made the trip with family members on Sept. 30. The vacation included tickets to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios.

“It was a lot of fun,” said his mother, Adrianne. “Joseph loved his first airplane ride … he got to meet almost all the characters and he was super thrilled about that … he just loved the rides, especially at the Magic Kingdom.”

In fact, Joey loved the rides at Disney’s Magic Kingdom so much, he decided he wanted to go back a second day and even made a list of his favorite rides that he just had to ride again.

“We were really happy,” Adrianne said. “It was an awesome trip, and we just can’t thank you enough. We’re ready to go back again.”

The process began when Adrianne, after talking with a friend whose child had a wish granted through a charity, began looking into the possibility of having a wish granted to her son. During an online search, she found out about Kids Wish Network. A wish-funding specialist found sponsors to help send Joey and his family to Florida.

According to the Kids Wish Network, the following organizations helped to make Joey’s wish extra special: students and staff of Lakeshore Technical College, Hearts for Families, Manitowoc Tool & Machining, Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Association, Compassion Program, Royal Plaza Hotel, Dollar Thrifty Automotive, Pirates Dinner Adventure, California Pizza Kitchen and Wonderworks.

To sponsor a child’s wish or suggest a child who may be in need of the organization’s wish-granting services, call (888) 918-9004.

Herald Times Reporter
Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Published: 11/15/10
Source:
http://www.htrnews.com/article/20101115/MAN0101/11150463/Kids-Wish-Network-sends-child-family-to-Florida

Stacia Eckhardt, daughter of Derek and Susan Dummermuth of New Philadelphia, has had a wish come true.

Kids Wish Network granted Stacia and her family a trip to Orlando, Fla., complete with hotel accommodations, meals and entry to the amusement parks Stacia has dreamed of  visiting.

 In early August, the family accepted the gift and enjoyed several days exploring Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, which Susan said was her daughter’s favorite place to visit. Susan said she thought of the gift as “a thank-you for all of Stacia’s hard work” for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

 Kids Wish Network provided the trip because the 12-year-old has cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening condition that requires daily treatments to keep the symptoms in check. The national organization grants wishes to children with life-threatening conditions, and they work with local organizations to raise money for sponsoring each gift.

According to a network wish coordinator, many area businesses and organizations contributed to help make Eckhardt’s trip possible: New Philadelphia Chapter 222 Order of Eastern Star, New Philadelphia Rotary, Mark’s Place Salon and Day Spa, Tuscarawas County Employees Dress Down Day, city of New Philadelphia – Clerical Unit, New Philadelphia Firefighters Local 1501, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1445 Carl C. Stoller Post and Bikers-N-Bears.

While Stacia wished for a trip to Orlando, her main goal has been to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Last March, she hosted her birthday party as a fundraiser for the foundation, asking for donations instead of gifts; and she participated in other fundraising events with a personal goal of raising $10,000. Her mother reported Stacia actually raised $30,000 through all of her efforts, and all of the money will help fund research.

“Thank you to everyone who helped. It was unbelievable,” Susan said.

The Times-Reporter
New Philadelphia, Ohio
Published: 08/16/10
Source:

http://www.timesreporter.com/news/x1351159465/Her-wish-comes-true

“She developed achiness in her hips, dark circles under her eyes, a fever every night, and she was grouchy,” her mother said of the then kindergartener from Lake Arrowhead. “We thought it was because she was tired from school.”

Kayla was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. She’s been out of school receiving treatment ever since. It was the week from hell for the Gronley family.

Just two days earlier, her father, James Sr., was diagnosed with a 17-centimeter cancerous mass attached to his heart.

But lately, things have been looking up.

The Gronleys returned July 26 from a five-day, four-night vacation at Walt Disney World theme park in Orlando, Fla. The trip was arranged and funded by Kids Wish Network, which granted Kayla’s only wish: To hang out with princesses from Disney.

“Her thing is princesses,” said Sandra.

During the trip, Kayla, now 6, got to meet and bond with Belle of “Beauty and the Beast” and “Sleeping Beauty.”

She had seen the movies so many times, she could almost recite them (so could mom, Sandra).

And there’s more good news.

Both James Sr. and Kayla are in remission, although dad has a tiny spot on his lung that doctors want to keep and eye on.

James Sr. is expected to be allowed to return to work in October, and Kayla, who can comb her hair again, will return to school in the fall.

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Lake Arrowhead, California
Published: 08/01/10
Source:

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_15648847

At less than one month of age, little Ebonnyse was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition called Sickle Cell Disease. This is a devastating and debilitating illness that affects the blood and causes serious episodes of pain. When she was about 1-year-old, Ebonnyse had her spleen removed, and because of this, she gets sick very easily. She has had many blood transfusions in her short life and will continue to need more. Her illness requires constant attention, as it can lead to blood clots, strokes, comas and even organ failure.

Ebonnyse and her family visited Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure, Sea World, the Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Though she enjoyed everything she experienced, Ebonnyse particularly loved the dolphin shows, whale shows and the “Journey to Atlantis” ride at Sea World.