Okay, I've been a lurker here for MONTHS now, I've read through every single page of BOTH WishTripper threads, and a number of trip reports, so I thought it was about time that I "outted" myself.
My name is Kelly, and I have been married to my husband Garth for eight years. We have three fabulous children, Gabriel, Maya, and Alison. Gabe is our newest addition and arrived here through the foster care system. My husband and I are both high school teachers and happened to be in the right place at the right time. We initially had agreed to take Gabe for President's Day weekend until DSS could find him a longer term placement - this was in January. The rest, as you could say, is history.
Maya is our six year old. She is my ultra-sensitive-rescue-every-stray-animal-on-the-side-of-the-road little girl. She just started first grade and seems to be developing into a little mathemetician, despite the fact that I teach English and couldn't add my way out of a paper bag. She LOVES the Disney princesses and actually wrote a letter to Santa just yesterday in which she asked for "everything Ariel."
And finally, there's Alison, our potential WishKid. I say "potential" because she hasn't officially been approved for a wish yet, but we have been verbally told that she does have a wish qualifying condition. After almost four years of various health issues, multiple surgeries, and many hospitalizations, Alison was finally diagnosed with mitochondrial disease. Her main issues are respiratory and GI. She also was recently diagnosed with Multiple Drug Allergy Syndrome, which essentially means she is allergic to every single antibiotic out there. This has made things very difficult for her and us since every illness in a kid with mito runs the risk of causing major regressions and life threatening complications. Every time she gets sick with a suspected bacterial infection, she will have to be admitted to the PICU for antibiotic administration. And to think we are still dealing with gut issues from a cold that she had the first week of September. Despite all this, she is an awesome little kid who loves, loves, loves Tinkerbell.
When we first entertained the idea of contacting Make-a-Wish on Alison's behalf, we thought that we would wait a couple of years until she was older. However, after her last round of illness and the regressions that accompanied it, we decided that we would like to start the process sooner as opposed to later. Also, we would like to take Gabe since he has never been to Disney World before. Our hope is to go over April vacation. Summer is out because Ali has some pretty significant heat tolerance issues, and we'd really like to not miss school because Garth and I already miss so much work to be with Ali. So, we have submmitted the initial referral and are waiting anxiously to hear from our local chapter.
We are sure that when given the opportunity, Ali will choose Disney World as her wish. We are friends with Christine and Jake (DMBfan), so Ali has seen all of his Wish Trip pictures and was enthralled. She is also Tinkerbell obsessed and has been saying for at least the past year that she wants to meet her. My husband and I have not been since we were small children (before Epcot, even), so we really remember nothing about it. It will be so nice to research vacation options instead of disease treatments!
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to getting to know everyone better!
Kelly
Okay, I've been a lurker here for MONTHS now, I've read through every single page of BOTH WishTripper threads, and a number of trip reports, so I thought it was about time that I "outted" myself.
My name is Kelly, and I have been married to my husband Garth for eight years. We have three fabulous children, Gabriel, Maya, and Alison. Gabe is our newest addition and arrived here through the foster care system. My husband and I are both high school teachers and happened to be in the right place at the right time. We initially had agreed to take Gabe for President's Day weekend until DSS could find him a longer term placement - this was in January. The rest, as you could say, is history.
Maya is our six year old. She is my ultra-sensitive-rescue-every-stray-animal-on-the-side-of-the-road little girl. She just started first grade and seems to be developing into a little mathemetician, despite the fact that I teach English and couldn't add my way out of a paper bag. She LOVES the Disney princesses and actually wrote a letter to Santa just yesterday in which she asked for "everything Ariel."
And finally, there's Alison, our potential WishKid. I say "potential" because she hasn't officially been approved for a wish yet, but we have been verbally told that she does have a wish qualifying condition. After almost four years of various health issues, multiple surgeries, and many hospitalizations, Alison was finally diagnosed with mitochondrial disease. Her main issues are respiratory and GI. She also was recently diagnosed with Multiple Drug Allergy Syndrome, which essentially means she is allergic to every single antibiotic out there. This has made things very difficult for her and us since every illness in a kid with mito runs the risk of causing major regressions and life threatening complications. Every time she gets sick with a suspected bacterial infection, she will have to be admitted to the PICU for antibiotic administration. And to think we are still dealing with gut issues from a cold that she had the first week of September. Despite all this, she is an awesome little kid who loves, loves, loves Tinkerbell.
When we first entertained the idea of contacting Make-a-Wish on Alison's behalf, we thought that we would wait a couple of years until she was older. However, after her last round of illness and the regressions that accompanied it, we decided that we would like to start the process sooner as opposed to later. Also, we would like to take Gabe since he has never been to Disney World before. Our hope is to go over April vacation. Summer is out because Ali has some pretty significant heat tolerance issues, and we'd really like to not miss school because Garth and I already miss so much work to be with Ali. So, we have submmitted the initial referral and are waiting anxiously to hear from our local chapter.
We are sure that when given the opportunity, Ali will choose Disney World as her wish. We are friends with Christine and Jake (DMBfan), so Ali has seen all of his Wish Trip pictures and was enthralled. She is also Tinkerbell obsessed and has been saying for at least the past year that she wants to meet her. My husband and I have not been since we were small children (before Epcot, even), so we really remember nothing about it. It will be so nice to research vacation options instead of disease treatments!
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to getting to know everyone better!
Kelly
Hello Kelly! It is nice to meet ya! 
to the Wish Trippers thread! So glad you "outed" yourself! 
Hello, Tina! 
This is keith my wish kid
But we have been told that since mitochondrial disease is life threatening and there is no treatment/cure, that she will most definitely qualify. And, we feel pretty confident that she will choose Disney. Thanks for sharing the picture of Keith. He is handsome. How old is he? My husband was more committed to waiting than I was, but I think for him, it was how he took a stand against this disease. The thing that did it for him is that he really wants our foster son to be able to go. When are you going on your trip?
Hi Tina! Nice to know there's another newbie on the board with me! No, we don't have dates yet. In fact, we haven't even completed the referral process yet. Doh!
Thank you, StefaniLyn.
Thanks, Maroo! I will gladly say hello to Jake for you, though I don't see them as frequently now that our kids spend less time in the hospital. For a while, our inpatient stays were overlapping. I do not know Amber, but I have visited her blog. I would love more contact information, as I think many of our girls' issues are similar.
So does anyone know how this works in terms of foster children? I know that DSS has told us that he is technically part of our family and should be counted as such when we do things like family memberships, etc. And we certainly consider him one of our own. We would very much like for him to be included, but I'm not sure how that works with MAW. Any thoughts?
CLOSE our trip is... 15 days until that magical day. Sunny's wish was to meet Mickey Mouse so MAW is sending us to WDW December 1st-December 6th. 
I just wanted to thank everyone on here for their wonderful posts and tips. I really could not have planned out this trip w/o you all so
I can't wait to post my very first WDW TR in Dec.!!! 
Hi Tina! Yay for Keith getting a wish! It sounds like he's been through a lot. My wish kid is 8 chronologically but probably about 1 yr cognitively. They can't find the cause of her delays and medical issues, so they just call it CP. You will have lots fun planning his trip and getting to know the other folks here. (ps - my wish kid hyperventilates around horses! She is riding once a week right now and she loves it!)Hi my name is Tina my son keith just found out that he gets to make a wish from the make a wish foundation in ohio
I can't wait to post my very first WDW TR in Dec.!!!
We will all be here anxiously awaiting your TR!!! Do you have everything planned that you want to? I'm wondering how I'll be when we are only two weeks away.
Great intro.
PLEASE say hello to Jakers for me! Another one of those kids that I just love and have never met! His trip on the Tower of Terror ride goes down in Wish Trip history as one of the coolest things a CM has done for a wish child on a trip!
We also have another Mom that you must meet...if you have not already... her name is Amber Greenawalt. She went on a wish trip with her son, who was diagnosed with cancer. Then she came back (has still not done a trip report - because her youngest daughter was having all kinds of issues and was eventually diagnosed with mito)...
I guess some of that is in the VOLUMES of information in both of the Wish Trippers threads.
Here is her blog:
www.greenawaltfamilylife.blogspot.com
And PM me and I can give you some more contact information for Amber.
I can't wait for you guys to get officially approved! It sounds like you guys would all have a wonderful time!
Howdy Kelly!
I'm Amber, the one that Mary mentioned
Okay, I've been a lurker here for MONTHS now, I've read through every single page of BOTH WishTripper threads, and a number of trip reports, so I thought it was about time that I "outted" myself.
My name is Kelly, and I have been married to my husband Garth for eight years. We have three fabulous children, Gabriel, Maya, and Alison. Gabe is our newest addition and arrived here through the foster care system. My husband and I are both high school teachers and happened to be in the right place at the right time. We initially had agreed to take Gabe for President's Day weekend until DSS could find him a longer term placement - this was in January. The rest, as you could say, is history.
Maya is our six year old. She is my ultra-sensitive-rescue-every-stray-animal-on-the-side-of-the-road little girl. She just started first grade and seems to be developing into a little mathemetician, despite the fact that I teach English and couldn't add my way out of a paper bag. She LOVES the Disney princesses and actually wrote a letter to Santa just yesterday in which she asked for "everything Ariel."
And finally, there's Alison, our potential WishKid. I say "potential" because she hasn't officially been approved for a wish yet, but we have been verbally told that she does have a wish qualifying condition. After almost four years of various health issues, multiple surgeries, and many hospitalizations, Alison was finally diagnosed with mitochondrial disease. Her main issues are respiratory and GI. She also was recently diagnosed with Multiple Drug Allergy Syndrome, which essentially means she is allergic to every single antibiotic out there. This has made things very difficult for her and us since every illness in a kid with mito runs the risk of causing major regressions and life threatening complications. Every time she gets sick with a suspected bacterial infection, she will have to be admitted to the PICU for antibiotic administration. And to think we are still dealing with gut issues from a cold that she had the first week of September. Despite all this, she is an awesome little kid who loves, loves, loves Tinkerbell.
When we first entertained the idea of contacting Make-a-Wish on Alison's behalf, we thought that we would wait a couple of years until she was older. However, after her last round of illness and the regressions that accompanied it, we decided that we would like to start the process sooner as opposed to later. Also, we would like to take Gabe since he has never been to Disney World before. Our hope is to go over April vacation. Summer is out because Ali has some pretty significant heat tolerance issues, and we'd really like to not miss school because Garth and I already miss so much work to be with Ali. So, we have submmitted the initial referral and are waiting anxiously to hear from our local chapter.
We are sure that when given the opportunity, Ali will choose Disney World as her wish. We are friends with Christine and Jake (DMBfan), so Ali has seen all of his Wish Trip pictures and was enthralled. She is also Tinkerbell obsessed and has been saying for at least the past year that she wants to meet her. My husband and I have not been since we were small children (before Epcot, even), so we really remember nothing about it. It will be so nice to research vacation options instead of disease treatments!
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to getting to know everyone better!
Kelly
Wow... It's been awhile since I've been on here. I haven't been gone, i have just been wandering around the Disboards looking at TRs, tips, and other posts. If you don't remember me or don't know who I am, I'm Annastesia. My baby sister (Sunny) is our MAW girl (See bottom picture). I can't believe how
Great intro.
PLEASE say hello to Jakers for me! Another one of those kids that I just love and have never met! His trip on the Tower of Terror ride goes down in Wish Trip history as one of the coolest things a CM has done for a wish child on a trip!
We also have another Mom that you must meet...if you have not already... her name is Amber Greenawalt. She went on a wish trip with her son, who was diagnosed with cancer. Then she came back (has still not done a trip report - because her youngest daughter was having all kinds of issues and was eventually diagnosed with mito)...
I guess some of that is in the VOLUMES of information in both of the Wish Trippers threads.
Here is her blog:
www.greenawaltfamilylife.blogspot.com
And PM me and I can give you some more contact information for Amber.
I can't wait for you guys to get officially approved! It sounds like you guys would all have a wonderful time!
Howdy Kelly!
I'm Amber, the one that Mary mentioned
