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Wishes &
More grants Sara's
wish! March 2, 2006 Dear Wishes & More: Where to begin thanking all of the absolutely wonderful people involved in making Sara's wish come true is difficult at best, but here is our attempt at telling Sara's story. Sara was diagnosed with leukemia (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or "ALL") in November of 2004, about a month after celebrating her 3rd birthday. While we felt Sara had enough to concur in life after having been born with Down Syndrome, now she had to battle a life threatening illness. Sara's chemotherapy treatment started in November of 2004 and should be completed in January of 2007. The first year of her treatment included many hospital stays, including being hospitalized both over Thanksgiving and then again over Christmas of 2004, due to serious infections. Her treatment consists of daily oral medicines, monthly steroids, never-ending doctor visits to check her blood counts, blood transfusions, spinal taps, and a lot of courage. In September of 2005, after almost a year into her treatment, Wishes & More stepped into Sara's life. A big thank you to our family friend, Cindy Streich, who also volunteers for Wishes and More. Cindy's the person who told us about this wonderful organization and gave us the name of Karla Blomberg. After contacting Karla, everything else seemed to fall into place, and several weeks after that time, Sara and her family — Dad (Troy), Mom (Lisa), brothers Tyler (17) and Jake (7) — learned they were going to Disney World in Florida!!! We couldn't believe this was happening, but the planning began almost at once, and our trip was planned for February of 2006. Wishes & More took care of absolutely everything, which made our trip all the more special! Then, about two weeks before our trip was to take place, Sara was hospitalized with pneumonia. We were very fearful, but our wonderful doctors, nurses, and staff at Children's Hospital got Sara's pneumonia under control, which in turn ensured that we would be taking our trip to Disney World as scheduled! Everything about our trip was truly amazing. First, we were transported to and from the airport by stretch limousine, something Sara and her brothers had never experienced. Upon arriving at the airport, we were greeted by Donna and Kelly, who ensured an absolutely smooth check in at the airport. Once on the airplane, waiting for Sara at her seat was a colorful bunch of fun balloons and a "welcome aboard Sara" sign. The pilot even came over the intercom to welcomed Sara and her family aboard! What a special flight it was and flying was another new and exciting experience for Sara and her brother Jake! Upon arriving in Florida, we were greeted by a volunteer from Give Kids the World ("GKTW"), the placed where we stayed while in Florida, and she ensured a smooth pick up of our luggage and rental van. Once at GKTW, we felt we were in paradise! The hospitality and accommodations were more than we could have dreamed. GKTW gave us a special button to wear which ensured that we didn't have to wait in long lines at the parks - talk about the VIP treatment! While in Florida, the fun never stopped. We went to many great parks including Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, and Sea World. We also went to the Kennedy Space Center and spent a warm afternoon at the ocean, resting, walking and collecting sea shells. When it was time to come home, we were a little sad, but we treasured the fact that we had many extremely happy memories that would last us a lifetime! Wishes & More made this an absolutely unforgettable trip, and we thank everyone involved in making this wish come true. A special thank you to Carol Bistodeau, who did an absolutely amazing job of making sure every last detail was taken care of - we can't thank you enough for all you have done for us. Thank you also to Erica and Cindy for the initial meeting with our family and for the great gifts they delivered to our children that day. Erica, thank you so very much for delivering the beautifully-decorated box of goodies to Sara while she was in the hospital. The box included so many fun things, and Sara had so much fun opening the box. I wish you could have seen her face light up. A big thank you to Donna and Kelly for meeting us at the airport and making our check in go so smoothly. Thank you also to Kelly and Cindy for greeting us at the airport upon our return home and helping pick up and load our luggage - it was great to see your smiling faces. And last, but certainly not least, thank you so very, very much for the spending money for our trip; it was, as they say, the icing on the cake! Again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you all so very, very much for everything. When Sara's treatment is complete and life settles down a bit for us, we look forward to volunteering at Wishes & More, to help make wishes come true for other special children. Finally, enclosed for you are some photos from our wonderful trip – enjoy! Sincerely, Sara, Troy, Lisa, Tyler & Jake Pictures of
Sara's trip to Disney World:
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