Well….It’s
finally here. I can tell all of you
about Eli’s upcoming Make-A-Wish trip because it is official! I’ll give you a little background first and
then tell you what I know about our trip.
We were
contacted by Make-A-Wish back when Eli was first diagnosed. We were put on a waiting list, because they
make sure that children with terminal illness and more dire situations get to
choose first. We were so relieved to
learn that this is how they organize the wishes and that we are not taking the
spot of a child that may not make it to their next birthday.
As many of
you know Eli was diagnosed with a Wilm’s tumor, cancerous, on his left
kidney. After having his left kidney and
tumor removed he underwent 25 weeks of chemo, and 6 radiation treatments. This spanned from Sept. 2010 until March
2011. The week of his 2nd
birthday was his last week of chemo!
Now fast
forward 2 whole years and he is a very healthy, very energetic almost 4 year
old. It actually worked out perfect
because taking a potty trained and healthy preschooler on vacation will be much
more enjoyable than a sick little toddler!
Also, our trip will be the same week as the 2 year anniversary of his
last chemo treatment AND his 4th birthday party will be the Saturday
after we get back!
The whole
Make-A-Wish process has been fun. They
have some wonderful volunteers who showed up at our house with presents (toys)
for both boys to play with while we all chatted. We filled out paperwork and put down a few
possibilities. We were trying to be
conservative and choose something close by, like a day trip….but they said for
us to try and choose something that we wouldn’t normally take him to. In fact, the whole process is supposed to be
centered on the child and they are supposed to choose. However, when I
questioned Eli about where he would most want to go he said “In my room to play
with my cars and trains”! Then I rephrased the question and asked if there was
someone/character he would like to meet and he replied “Sam!” Haha!
So, since we
really didn’t want to spend our trip in his room playing with Sam we kind of
had to choose for him. We put several
options and the one that came through was ………………………DISNEYLAND!
Yes, Anaheim,
CA here we come! The volunteers pointed
out that because of his love of the movie Cars this might be a great choice
because they have a new section of the park dedicated to that movie
series. It is also somewhere that we
would definitely not ever probably get to travel to. We are closer to Disney World and have
thought about planning a trip in the next few years anyways, so California
ended up being the best choice!
I cannot even
begin to tell you how excited we all are.
Eli has a tendency to be very reserved and even fearful of new things so
we have been talking about this for quite some time. We have played “plane” where we take off our
shoes and walk through a “metal detector” and then “strap in” and wait for the
seatbelt sign to go off. We have talked
about how some of the Disney rides are inside and some are outside, some are
loud, some are bright. He also seems to
have some sensitivity to sound so we will definitely have the earplugs for most
of the rides that involve loud music, etc.
I know Joseph thinks I am going crazy over planning but my mantra is: I
will plan, pack, make lists and run around like crazy now so I can sit back and
enjoy the trip!
We found out a
few months back that Eli’s wish has a sponsor, Merrill Lynch. They wanted to give Eli a “send off” party. This past Monday we trekked up to the Merrill Lynch offices in Atlanta for the party. As usual, I had talked about the party with
Eli for several weeks and tried to prepare him for the crowd and pictures and handshakes
and questions, etc. I must have done a
pretty good job because he did great!…No, actually he just wanted to make a
liar out of me when I told them that he was very shy because that child was the
friendliest, most talkative and funniest we have ever seen him!!! If you know
Eli, you know that in most unfamiliar situations he will sit in my lap, bury
his head in my shoulder and refuse to even look up. But Monday he shook everyone’s hand, told
them thanks and ran around the room smiling!
Both boys were so well-behaved that I think Joseph and I probably looked
so confused because we just stood there in shock! Haha
We met the nicest
and sweetest people at the office there.
Everyone was so kind and wanted to meet Eli. The Branch
Manager for Merrill Lynch was the one introducing us to everyone at the event. I found out later that he has worked with
Make A Wish for many years and is on their board of directors. When we filled out the paperwork back in
October they had a short questionnaire about Eli’s favorite things. Of course, when you are three that changes
weekly, sometimes hourly! Am I
right?
Mr. John Inhouse,
the manager, had the questionnaire and was sharing some of Eli’s likes and
favorite things with everyone, when my shy little 3 year old stands up and
starts correcting him on how he doesn’t like poptarts anymore and his favorite
food is now pizza! That definitely got a
laugh out of everyone. He then proceeded
to change some of his other answers too!
Then he started telling this room
full of strangers how his new pillowpet dinosaur (that he had opened in the
lobby) likes to bite people! It was
definitely a shocker for us to see him in such rare form.
They asked us
to tell a little about Eli’s story. I got up and walked to the front of the room
and when I turned around I realized just how many people were in there. I’ve taught elementary school all the way to
college, but I have to say that was the most well dressed crowd I have ever
spoken in front of! As a stay at home mom of preschoolers who
works online, I’m never around that many people in suits. I have no idea what I said but it must have
not been too bad!
After a bunch
of pictures, a few presents, several pieces of cake and lots of handshakes our
super sweet MakeAWish volunteer contact, Ms. Sheri had a few more presents for
Eli. So many of the presents and other
things associated with all of this were donated by businesses and I only wish I
knew who had given what so we could thank them personally. There is so much behind-the-scenes that goes
on that we will never know all of the details.
We have just tried to show gratitude and be thankful for everyone that
we have crossed paths with during this!
As we were
leaving Sheri pointed out how well Sam had done. I hadn’t even noticed that he had not shown
any jealousy or been upset that he was not given any presents or that he was
not the center of the party. He really made
us proud with the way he was excited for Eli but didn’t try to take the
spotlight away from him. Sam did make us
all laugh when as we were headed to the elevators to go to the car he exclaimed
loudly, “Next stop...the airport!” haha He totally thought we were leaving for
Disney right then!!
To make this
incredibly long story even longer…..not really, I’m almost done…..we will find
out the details of our trip later this week.
I do know that we are leaving on March 23rd and coming back
March 28th. That is the
extent of my knowledge about the trip….Seriously, try packing and planning like
crazy with that amount of knowledge! Hahaha It’s okay, procrastination and me are old
friends so we’ll work it all out next week!
I’ve included
some pics below from the party. I plan
to update this blog about our trip before and during so if you are interested
(or just nosy haha) feel free to check in and see how it all went.
**I didn't even get my camera out once.
These are "stolen" from Pops' camera that must think we are still in 2007! haha
Ms. Sheri!
Another Make-A-Wish contact, Ms. Kristen
***The toys only made it as far as the living room last night so when they got up this morning Sam exclaimed to Eli, "Hey, Eli, look what Santa brought you!" haha
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