A Truely Unusual Request...Please Help!!! (UPDATE!!!)

katiebsmom

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 28, 2005
Messages
335
My DH and I have a set of friends (a couple) who had planned a trip to Disney World in 2005. The wife (Laura) had recovered from a very very rare form of cencer during the previous year. Right before their trip she found that the cancer had come back and they "had" to cancel their once in a lifetime trip to WDW .

To give you a little background on this couple, they've been married the better part of a decade and don't have any children yet. They spoke about it often but I don't know if that is an option any longer for them. My DH was a Ph.D. student along with her husband (Shane). My DH has since graduated but Shane has not as of yet. They own a small business together and share an office. Laura is a true optomist at heart. She firmly believes that God has a higher purpose for her and uses her ongoing battle with cancer as a tool to be inspirational to others. She has a charming sense of humor and a very sharp wit. Being as gullable as I am she and Shane can keep me going for hours.

FF to the canceled trip in 2005. My DH and I went in April and they were scheduled to go sometime that summer. I bought them a Passporter and we thought all was well until the re-occurance. Laura's cancer is one of the most rare that exsists. She is the ONLY living survivor known to this day. The handful of people to have it have not survived. Since 2005 she had another re-occurance that she just finished treatment for about 4 months ago and has just received word that they have found yet two more spots that she's to start Chemo for on Monday. She's endured several surguries to remove spots and she's had her spine fused at her neck.

It has been a real dream of mine to help give Shane and Laura that trip to Disney since she's probably not going to beat the statisitics for her type of cancer. If ANYONE can give me a number or department to WDW where I could submit their names for a chance to be considered in a possible YOMD trip, I'd be so greatful!

Sorry the post is so long, if you've kept with me this long then I appreciate it.
 
If ANYONE can give me a number or department to WDW where I could submit their names for a chance to be considered in a possible YOMD trip, I'd be so greatful!

Hey great post and I think it's great you're trying to go the extra mile for your good friend.
In reply to your above quote, though, no one will be able to direct you anywhere such as you asked because such a person/department does not exist. The YOMD is a contest that runs on property and winners are determined by being in the right place at a right time (including the prize that is a return trip to WDW). The alternate means of entry is through postcards but, in that case, if you DID win a trip to WDW (I'm not even sure if that's a prize), you wouldn't be able to transfer it to them but you COULD take them as one of your allowed guests. Perhaps you could send postcards with your friend's name as the return address and entry-name so that if they were to select her as a winner of something, SHE'd be the one to get it.
Your best bet is to seek out nonprofit organizations, like mentioned above, and try to apply that way. Disney itself is not going to be able to do anything because of the immense amount of people they'd have to choose only a select few from. That's why they leave it up to GKTW and MaW.
You may also look to collect a fund of some sort if you share a mutual church or organization, perhaps a fundraiser to help them pay for the trip.
Whatever you decide - good luck and best wishes!
 
I thought I would post this to let you know that dreams really do come true. First off I want to state that I do not know who was contacted, but I know that Disney was notified of the situation and forwarded my father and his friend to the proper channels to get everything going. This happened 15 years ago.

My dad and another co-worker had a employee who worked for them. This guy had 4 daughters from 4 to 10 years old. The 4 year old had a terminal illness and she was given only months to live. Her dream was always to go to Disney but her parents just could not afford it. My dad and his friend wanted to surprise this family with a dream vacation to Disney specificaly for this little girl, but apparently it was of such short notice they couldn't get any rooms that could accommidate the family (not a lot of options back then. They were referred to a non-profit (I don't know whether or not it was make a wish, I was only 12 at the time so I don't know the specfics). They were able to get this family a room. They went above and beyond though. They had a limo surprise at the airport for the family to get to and from the airport and they were treated to a great vacation and time to spend with their daughter. My father and his friend gave each of the kids $300 for this trip. Apparently they all bought $300 worth of stuffed animals and they had to buy extra suitcases down there to transport them all home. The family got to see their daughter enjoy life close to the end and see her live her dream. Those memories are what Disney is all about!
 

Hey great post and I think it's great you're trying to go the extra mile for your good friend.
In reply to your above quote, though, no one will be able to direct you anywhere such as you asked because such a person/department does not exist. The YOMD is a contest that runs on property and winners are determined by being in the right place at a right time (including the prize that is a return trip to WDW). The alternate means of entry is through postcards but, in that case, if you DID win a trip to WDW (I'm not even sure if that's a prize), you wouldn't be able to transfer it to them but you COULD take them as one of your allowed guests. Perhaps you could send postcards with your friend's name as the return address and entry-name so that if they were to select her as a winner of something, SHE'd be the one to get it.
Your best bet is to seek out nonprofit organizations, like mentioned above, and try to apply that way. Disney itself is not going to be able to do anything because of the immense amount of people they'd have to choose only a select few from. That's why they leave it up to GKTW and MaW.
You may also look to collect a fund of some sort if you share a mutual church or organization, perhaps a fundraiser to help them pay for the trip.
Whatever you decide - good luck and best wishes!
I was actually given an email address of a CM that is on one of the dream teams, so I emailed her. I didn't hear from anyone for a few days and then out of no where I received a call from the executive offices of Disney and they asked all about my friend and her husband. They did in fact tell me that the YOMD rules were that it IS a sweepstakes so they couldn't just "pick" my friends and give them a trip. She did ask what thier favorite characters were and said that she would send them something. I don't know what that means, but we'll see.

In the mean time, we have a mutual friend who was able to secure airline tickets for anytime they'd like to go... It's just the two of them, so I'm thinking that maybe DH and I can get something together for them ourselves, even if it's for a long weekend :).
 
I think it is nice that the dream team even responded back and even better that they are going to send them a little something.
 




















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