Update on Katie
Jul. 12th, 2005 08:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancerjodiFrom her dad:
"Hello Everyone
I thought I'd write everyone and give you an account of Katie's
activities in the last two weeks. Following the grave discussion with
her oncologist, I put in an immediate request to Make-A-Wish foundation,
an organization that grants wishes to terminally ill children and a
group I've worked with extensively for years in my Star Wars club. I was
amazed to get a response no more than three hours after leaving a
message with their local bureau. After having the doctors fax them her
condition and prognosis, we were approved for a rush wish right away.
Normally there might be a waiting period before a wish can clear, but I
think they saw the timeline spelled out by the doctors and agreed that
Katie should get the chance to experience her wish while she's still
healthy and energetic.
During her interview, Katie expressed a number of possible wishes.
That's the way the organization works - they want a range of options to
work with. Katie's wishes included meeting Hillary Duff and go shopping
with her for day, another was to meet 'Frodo' (Elijah Wood) probably
because she played Frodo a couple years ago on Halloween. Yet another
wish was to meet the cast of Smallville, the show on WB, especially
Kristen Kreuk who plays Lana on the show. But unfortunately none of
these were very practical so instead she opted for a Disney trip.
Well did they ever roll the red carpet out for us! In no time at all
they'd approved two rental vehicles to get both us and Katie's mom and
step-dad to Florida, tickets to all the Disney, MGM, and Seaworld parks,
an expense account to help with food, and full accomodations at our very
own house in the Give Kids the World village located in Orlando. I'd
never heard of the GKTW village, but apparently it's one of the best
kept secrets of the Make-A-Wish Disney trips. Located on 50 acres right
around the corner from International Blvd, it's a serene, privacy-gated
community with houses for families to stay in, an interactive campus
decorated like a Disney park, furnished with a game-room, movie theater,
all-you-can-eat ice cream parlor, ginger-bread house cafeteria, magic
castle and carousel, horse-riding corral, and swimming pool. Each little
house is fully furnished and comes with washer/dryer and full amenities
and is only a walk away from the main buildings. It's its own community
with a rabbit named Clayton for mayor who comes and tucks the kids in at
night.
Katie got to the village on Wednesday June 29th to find autographed
pictures of Disney characters made out to her and all her favorite
snacks in a basket. She also found a beautiful gift bag left by the
Florida Garrison of our Star Wars club for her and her sisters. Allie
and Emily were also very excited by everything they found! Although it
was a lot of hard work, we were able to take the girls to Magic Kingdom,
Disney MGM Studios, Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure,
and Seaworld in six days (we took one day off to let the girls rest - we
just hung around the pool). It helped a lot to be able to go to the
front of the lines. I don't know how we could have done it otherwise.
Even though we had Katie in a wheelchair, moving was always slow. So the
pass to the front really helped out.
Some of our friends (most of whom prefer to stay anonymous, but THANK
YOU so much) sent us money to buy the girls some souveniers. Well, let
me tell you: those girls had enough money to really SHOP at the theme
parks and you know how expensive the shops can be. But we didn't care -
Kathy and I were determined the girls were going to have the best time
possible, so we told them to buy whatever they wanted. I was a little
worried that they'd get too carried away, but apparently they've all
been raised right (;)) because they each limited what they bought to
only what they _really_ wanted. So it was nice to let the girls shop
every day and pick out something memorable to them.
There were some very memorable moments, almost too many to give an
account of. I'll try to hit the highlights:
* I was determined that Allie and Emily would feel special on this trip,
too. They knew it was a trip for Katie, but they were treated to plenty
of fun as well. I really wanted Allie to relax and forget about Katie's
health for a few days - she's been carrying it around like a heavy
weight. So I took her on every roller-coaster we could find! She loves
roller-coasters so she had a blast! And every ride let her have a free
picture of her on it b/c of her sister. How cool!
* Katie finally got to meet her favorite princess of all time - Princess
Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). The girl playing Snow White in the park made
sure Katie got plenty of time with Aurora and trust me - that was one
magical moment! I had to step out of the room, it was so touching.
Katie's eyes just lit up at meeting her hero! The lady just fawned all
over her and made sure that Katie felt like a true princess.
* For some reason (I know, you'll all think it's because of me) Katie
loves the character Terminator from the movies. She has my old poster
over her bed and just thinks its so cool to have a big tough robot
watching out for you like he did for the boy in T2. So when she heard
there was a Terminator ride at Universal she bolted to it! When we got
there the cast/crew just went nuts over her, getting her to the front of
the theater, picking out a complimentary t-shirt for her, and even
getting her backstage to meet Terminator himself from the show!!! That
was pretty neat - Katie made such a fuss over the big guy playing
Terminator and you could tell it choked him up to be idolized by such a
sweet little girl. Katie got his autograph on her t-shirt and a picture
of her hugging him. She was even more amazed that another actor came in
looking like Terminator - I think she really thinks they come off an
assembly line now!
* Allie, Katie, and Emily got the chance to fill up their autograph
books completely that week. They met everyone from Mickey and Minny and
all their friends to a whole host of Dr. Seuss characters, Indiana
Jones, Nickelodeon characters like Sponge Bob, and a bunch of
Superheroes! On Sunday the village was treated to some special visitors
- Superman, Supergirl, Storm, and Green Lantern all came to visit and
they made a big fuss over the girls. Katie had a great time taking them
by the hand and showing them the entire village. Superman even lifted
her up on his shoulders for a picture and listened attentively as Katie
told him all about her favorite show, Smallville. I think Allie really
liked meeting Storm and her alter-ego Supergirl. Some of the people
portraying the superheroes are actually friends of mine and one even
flew all the way from Ohio to be there. They've told me since then that
the girls made as much of an impresson on them as they did on the girls.
* Make-A-Wish got us tickets to Medieval Times, the middle-ages-themed
restaraunt and dinner show. The girls LOVED it. They loved eating messy
food with just their fingers and cheering for their knight as he fought
in the games. The castle even arranged for Katie to meet the princess of
the castle, who bestowed on her a beautiful flower. (Kathy was excited
to have our knight throw her a flower during the competition -
apparently she attracts knights in shining armor wherever she goes! :)
There was so much more to talk about, but I'm cutting this short. Every
day was filled with happiness, laughter, and fun. The adults had to
labor under the heat and humidity, but it was a labor of love and no one
complained. We were so grateful that Katie's health held up and that she
had plenty of energy and was plenty aware of everything going on. She
really is a strong kid and her attitude has been incredible - she sings,
laughs, plays, and helps her new little sister Emily tie her shoes. So
she's in good shape and we were thankful. Thankfully the weather was
clear and we kept the girls healthy, rested, and hydrated. So things
worked out very well for us all and thanks to the Make-A-Wish foundation
and Katie's friends we have some beautiful memories to treasure forever
as we face the next few months.
I am posting pictures from the trip on our imageevent site:
http://imageevent.com/tk210/family/makeawishtrip . Please go by and
check out the pics and leave a note for Katie if you'd like. Thanks
again to everyone who made this trip possible. No one knows how much
time we have with little Katie - but then, we never know how much time
we have with anyone. So make sure you hug your loved ones today. God
bless you all.
- Albin Johnson (Trooper Tk210)
501st Legion Stormtroopers"
"Hello Everyone
I thought I'd write everyone and give you an account of Katie's
activities in the last two weeks. Following the grave discussion with
her oncologist, I put in an immediate request to Make-A-Wish foundation,
an organization that grants wishes to terminally ill children and a
group I've worked with extensively for years in my Star Wars club. I was
amazed to get a response no more than three hours after leaving a
message with their local bureau. After having the doctors fax them her
condition and prognosis, we were approved for a rush wish right away.
Normally there might be a waiting period before a wish can clear, but I
think they saw the timeline spelled out by the doctors and agreed that
Katie should get the chance to experience her wish while she's still
healthy and energetic.
During her interview, Katie expressed a number of possible wishes.
That's the way the organization works - they want a range of options to
work with. Katie's wishes included meeting Hillary Duff and go shopping
with her for day, another was to meet 'Frodo' (Elijah Wood) probably
because she played Frodo a couple years ago on Halloween. Yet another
wish was to meet the cast of Smallville, the show on WB, especially
Kristen Kreuk who plays Lana on the show. But unfortunately none of
these were very practical so instead she opted for a Disney trip.
Well did they ever roll the red carpet out for us! In no time at all
they'd approved two rental vehicles to get both us and Katie's mom and
step-dad to Florida, tickets to all the Disney, MGM, and Seaworld parks,
an expense account to help with food, and full accomodations at our very
own house in the Give Kids the World village located in Orlando. I'd
never heard of the GKTW village, but apparently it's one of the best
kept secrets of the Make-A-Wish Disney trips. Located on 50 acres right
around the corner from International Blvd, it's a serene, privacy-gated
community with houses for families to stay in, an interactive campus
decorated like a Disney park, furnished with a game-room, movie theater,
all-you-can-eat ice cream parlor, ginger-bread house cafeteria, magic
castle and carousel, horse-riding corral, and swimming pool. Each little
house is fully furnished and comes with washer/dryer and full amenities
and is only a walk away from the main buildings. It's its own community
with a rabbit named Clayton for mayor who comes and tucks the kids in at
night.
Katie got to the village on Wednesday June 29th to find autographed
pictures of Disney characters made out to her and all her favorite
snacks in a basket. She also found a beautiful gift bag left by the
Florida Garrison of our Star Wars club for her and her sisters. Allie
and Emily were also very excited by everything they found! Although it
was a lot of hard work, we were able to take the girls to Magic Kingdom,
Disney MGM Studios, Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure,
and Seaworld in six days (we took one day off to let the girls rest - we
just hung around the pool). It helped a lot to be able to go to the
front of the lines. I don't know how we could have done it otherwise.
Even though we had Katie in a wheelchair, moving was always slow. So the
pass to the front really helped out.
Some of our friends (most of whom prefer to stay anonymous, but THANK
YOU so much) sent us money to buy the girls some souveniers. Well, let
me tell you: those girls had enough money to really SHOP at the theme
parks and you know how expensive the shops can be. But we didn't care -
Kathy and I were determined the girls were going to have the best time
possible, so we told them to buy whatever they wanted. I was a little
worried that they'd get too carried away, but apparently they've all
been raised right (;)) because they each limited what they bought to
only what they _really_ wanted. So it was nice to let the girls shop
every day and pick out something memorable to them.
There were some very memorable moments, almost too many to give an
account of. I'll try to hit the highlights:
* I was determined that Allie and Emily would feel special on this trip,
too. They knew it was a trip for Katie, but they were treated to plenty
of fun as well. I really wanted Allie to relax and forget about Katie's
health for a few days - she's been carrying it around like a heavy
weight. So I took her on every roller-coaster we could find! She loves
roller-coasters so she had a blast! And every ride let her have a free
picture of her on it b/c of her sister. How cool!
* Katie finally got to meet her favorite princess of all time - Princess
Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). The girl playing Snow White in the park made
sure Katie got plenty of time with Aurora and trust me - that was one
magical moment! I had to step out of the room, it was so touching.
Katie's eyes just lit up at meeting her hero! The lady just fawned all
over her and made sure that Katie felt like a true princess.
* For some reason (I know, you'll all think it's because of me) Katie
loves the character Terminator from the movies. She has my old poster
over her bed and just thinks its so cool to have a big tough robot
watching out for you like he did for the boy in T2. So when she heard
there was a Terminator ride at Universal she bolted to it! When we got
there the cast/crew just went nuts over her, getting her to the front of
the theater, picking out a complimentary t-shirt for her, and even
getting her backstage to meet Terminator himself from the show!!! That
was pretty neat - Katie made such a fuss over the big guy playing
Terminator and you could tell it choked him up to be idolized by such a
sweet little girl. Katie got his autograph on her t-shirt and a picture
of her hugging him. She was even more amazed that another actor came in
looking like Terminator - I think she really thinks they come off an
assembly line now!
* Allie, Katie, and Emily got the chance to fill up their autograph
books completely that week. They met everyone from Mickey and Minny and
all their friends to a whole host of Dr. Seuss characters, Indiana
Jones, Nickelodeon characters like Sponge Bob, and a bunch of
Superheroes! On Sunday the village was treated to some special visitors
- Superman, Supergirl, Storm, and Green Lantern all came to visit and
they made a big fuss over the girls. Katie had a great time taking them
by the hand and showing them the entire village. Superman even lifted
her up on his shoulders for a picture and listened attentively as Katie
told him all about her favorite show, Smallville. I think Allie really
liked meeting Storm and her alter-ego Supergirl. Some of the people
portraying the superheroes are actually friends of mine and one even
flew all the way from Ohio to be there. They've told me since then that
the girls made as much of an impresson on them as they did on the girls.
* Make-A-Wish got us tickets to Medieval Times, the middle-ages-themed
restaraunt and dinner show. The girls LOVED it. They loved eating messy
food with just their fingers and cheering for their knight as he fought
in the games. The castle even arranged for Katie to meet the princess of
the castle, who bestowed on her a beautiful flower. (Kathy was excited
to have our knight throw her a flower during the competition -
apparently she attracts knights in shining armor wherever she goes! :)
There was so much more to talk about, but I'm cutting this short. Every
day was filled with happiness, laughter, and fun. The adults had to
labor under the heat and humidity, but it was a labor of love and no one
complained. We were so grateful that Katie's health held up and that she
had plenty of energy and was plenty aware of everything going on. She
really is a strong kid and her attitude has been incredible - she sings,
laughs, plays, and helps her new little sister Emily tie her shoes. So
she's in good shape and we were thankful. Thankfully the weather was
clear and we kept the girls healthy, rested, and hydrated. So things
worked out very well for us all and thanks to the Make-A-Wish foundation
and Katie's friends we have some beautiful memories to treasure forever
as we face the next few months.
I am posting pictures from the trip on our imageevent site:
http://imageevent.com/tk210/family/makeawishtrip . Please go by and
check out the pics and leave a note for Katie if you'd like. Thanks
again to everyone who made this trip possible. No one knows how much
time we have with little Katie - but then, we never know how much time
we have with anyone. So make sure you hug your loved ones today. God
bless you all.
- Albin Johnson (Trooper Tk210)
501st Legion Stormtroopers"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 01:10 pm (UTC)Make a Wish
Date: 2005-07-12 01:13 pm (UTC)Me too. It also brings me to tears looking at those pictures after reading the story, and seeing the joy in those kid's faces.
Re: Make a Wish
Date: 2005-07-12 01:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 02:41 pm (UTC)just wonderful.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 03:24 pm (UTC)More info on Give Kids The World Village
Date: 2005-07-21 03:26 pm (UTC)