Hello Disboard Officianados
!
The time has come to start a thread for my DDs Make a Wish Trip
. It has been very inspiring, informative and fun to read Wish Trip Reports 
here. I hope our thread will do the same for others.
For those who don't want to read the background story.... skip this part.
Index of Pages in this Trip Report:
Medical Background and Introduction
Requisition Poem #65
Send Off Party #110
Day One: Flight and Arrival at Give Kids the World Village #133 and Day Two: Sea World #135
Day Three: MAGIC KINGDOM!!!! #137, Day Four: Morning at the Village #142, Animal Kingdom #143, Day Five: Universal Studios #145, Islands of Adventure #148, Pirates and Princesses Party at Give Kids the World #149
Day Six: Epcot #151, Disney Studios #152, Day Seven: Hang out at the Village and Fly Home #154
Magic Kingdom Poem #33
Let me begin in 1987. My DW Lin
, who even my female coworkers acknowledge is a HOTTIE, is also a redheaded Irish-Cherokee
. LIfe with her is lots of fun and certainly interesting
. Long before we met, she lost a little daughter to Neuroblastoma before she reached 2-years of age. "N-blast" is a cancer that often strikes children before or soon after birth. Before our family came along, it was commonly thought that it was not a genetically connected disease. My wife's maternal line showed otherwise.
My DW lost an uncle, two cousins, a sister and her daughter Becki to this disease. There are many other family stories from "the old days" of family members dying as children from cancer or "abdominal troubles."
My DW also had three healthy children before we met, and I had four nearly grown children of my own (they are all grown and gone now). To make a long story short, we met, fell deeply in love and married. We have one child together, Elysia, the Princess. Her name is from the Greek word for paradise.
We knew something was wrong when a fetal-age ultrasound showed an abnormality. We prayed that it was not N-blast. Immediately after birth, our beautiful DD went in for a CT scan. At 6 weeks she began her surgeries. I will never forget the eye contact she made with me when the surgical team took her away. All I could say was my nickname for her "Sugar Baby," as tears welled up in my eyes.
Surgery lasted hours. One adrenal gland was removed as cancerous and a 'c' shaped tumor was removed from around her spinal cord. Unfortunately, the adrenal tumor had adhered to her renal artery. Several hours later another surgery was performed to remove her kidney. Months of chemo followed.
Somehow, our, now bald, little baby bounced back. Things looked great for months. 6 months later the other adrenal gland showed up as cancerous. It was removed and more chemotherapy followed.
Miraculously, she has been cancer free for over three years now as confirmed by twice-yearly diagnostics (2-days each go and lots of difficult tests). We thank God for this answer to prayer. Dr. Judy Felgenauer of the Spokane Sacred Heart Children's Hospital Pediatric Oncology clinic is to be thanked for her expert guidance and wise consultation with colleagues
. Dr. Diane McCarthy, the surgeon achieved the amazing feat of removing EVERY cancer cell during the last surgery
.
Bill and Lin
!The time has come to start a thread for my DDs Make a Wish Trip
. It has been very inspiring, informative and fun to read Wish Trip Reports here. I hope our thread will do the same for others.For those who don't want to read the background story.... skip this part.
Index of Pages in this Trip Report:
Medical Background and Introduction
Requisition Poem #65
Send Off Party #110
Day One: Flight and Arrival at Give Kids the World Village #133 and Day Two: Sea World #135
Day Three: MAGIC KINGDOM!!!! #137, Day Four: Morning at the Village #142, Animal Kingdom #143, Day Five: Universal Studios #145, Islands of Adventure #148, Pirates and Princesses Party at Give Kids the World #149
Day Six: Epcot #151, Disney Studios #152, Day Seven: Hang out at the Village and Fly Home #154
Magic Kingdom Poem #33
Let me begin in 1987. My DW Lin
, who even my female coworkers acknowledge is a HOTTIE, is also a redheaded Irish-Cherokee . LIfe with her is lots of fun and certainly interesting . Long before we met, she lost a little daughter to Neuroblastoma before she reached 2-years of age. "N-blast" is a cancer that often strikes children before or soon after birth. Before our family came along, it was commonly thought that it was not a genetically connected disease. My wife's maternal line showed otherwise.My DW lost an uncle, two cousins, a sister and her daughter Becki to this disease. There are many other family stories from "the old days" of family members dying as children from cancer or "abdominal troubles."
My DW also had three healthy children before we met, and I had four nearly grown children of my own (they are all grown and gone now). To make a long story short, we met, fell deeply in love and married. We have one child together, Elysia, the Princess. Her name is from the Greek word for paradise.
We knew something was wrong when a fetal-age ultrasound showed an abnormality. We prayed that it was not N-blast. Immediately after birth, our beautiful DD went in for a CT scan. At 6 weeks she began her surgeries. I will never forget the eye contact she made with me when the surgical team took her away. All I could say was my nickname for her "Sugar Baby," as tears welled up in my eyes.
Surgery lasted hours. One adrenal gland was removed as cancerous and a 'c' shaped tumor was removed from around her spinal cord. Unfortunately, the adrenal tumor had adhered to her renal artery. Several hours later another surgery was performed to remove her kidney. Months of chemo followed.
Somehow, our, now bald, little baby bounced back. Things looked great for months. 6 months later the other adrenal gland showed up as cancerous. It was removed and more chemotherapy followed.
Miraculously, she has been cancer free for over three years now as confirmed by twice-yearly diagnostics (2-days each go and lots of difficult tests). We thank God for this answer to prayer. Dr. Judy Felgenauer of the Spokane Sacred Heart Children's Hospital Pediatric Oncology clinic is to be thanked for her expert guidance and wise consultation with colleagues
. Dr. Diane McCarthy, the surgeon achieved the amazing feat of removing EVERY cancer cell during the last surgery .Bill and Lin
." I prefer to see the hand of God in the story that unfolds below
.
. It gets more amazing from here.
. From this sampling, not only was it demonstrated that in her form of N-Blast, there is a genetic connection, but the actual gene was found. Now children can be tested to see if they have this aggressive form of the disease.
, as we call her at home, is doing very well these days
. She has Addison's Disease from having her adrenal glands removed and operates on only one kidney
. Thrice daily (I have waited ever since studying Shakespeare in college to use that word) steroid doses take care of the lack of adrenal glands for the most part, although occasional injections and emergency hospitalizations 
.
, on our last hospital visit for scans, we found a brochure from Wishing Star, a wish granting organization with an office in Spokane. When we asked about it,they researched the issue and told us that they thought Elysia would qualify
. We became cautiously optimistic.
Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
) called to set up an appointment for a Make a Wish interview
. Elysia danced around all day singing a little song she made up, Make a Wish is Coming to Visit Me
, filled with joy and delight
. Throughout the day she would stand by her special window in our living room to see if Kathy's car was there yet
.
.
. It is awesome!!
(other than the animatronic ones on Pirates of the Caribbean).
.
, had one tornado pass over my head 
(thankfully I did not know that was what it was until it was gone or I would have... well use your imagination), one chase me across Spokane in my rear view mirror and one pass near by while I was in class at college, so what is a little hurricane anyway. Besides, I see that a hurricane has only shut down GKTW once, and that due to a power outage.
.
.
!.... I need a chart if not a computer to plot this all out. Thankfully there is wdwinfo.com 
, AKA Elysia the Real Princess 
. She is:
who is:
, check in, eat and have fun at the village
. This could be interesting after a 5.5 hours non-stop flight from Seattle (suggestions are welcomed for entertaining a 5 year old girl and a 13 year old boy sitting down for so long)
.
followed by Christmas at Give Kids the World
, although I am really confused about which to do when. It should be REALLY busy at MGM and slow at EPCOT. Epcot stays open later, but MGM has a neater fireworks show...... So many decisions
. One thing I do know, my plan is to drop everyone else off at one park, take the car to the park we will end up at, ride the bus back to the other park..... wait, do I have that right. I hope I don't end up in Cleveland. No offense to those who live there. We will take the boat from one park to the other. We really like boats
. Did I mention my Granpa was a lighthouse keeper? 
, then we have some options since we don't check in at the airport until 4:00. Do we:
because all but DW have never been and we really like shells
so each person can choose their "must do" attractions at each park. I have asked them to number their top choices. For MK it is 1-10, for the smaller parks, not so many.
Keep up the good work!!
