Our 6 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia 2 years ago. She went through some hellacious chemo and then a bone marrow transplant from her then 6 year old brother.

Skip to now...she is in remission and is in excellent health! Due to immune system deficiencies we weren't able to have her wish of going to Disney World granted until 10 days ago.

We just got back from a fabulous, fun-filled, family vacation in Orlando, FL all at the expense and generosity of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Give Kids The World in Kissimmee, FL.

We stayed at the Give Kids The World Village, founded by Henri Landwirth in 1986. This place was AWESOME! It has 96 "villas" which are like ranch-style duplexes designed for people with disabilities. The villas have full kitchens, 2 bed/2 bath (one of which has a BIG jacuzzi tub and a handicap shower), FREE long distance to anywhere and snacks in the fridge.

I will give a link for their website in a bit, but we just returned from our trip today and I am so excited about it all that I have to share it with you fantastic people!

The "village" is a magical place! It has an ice cream parlor that is open from 7 am-10 pm and the kids (adults, too) can have ice cream anytime they want it courtesy of Friendly's Ice Cream. Can you say banana splits for breakfast There is also a carousel (handicap equipped), a putt-putt course in the theme of interactive dinosaurs, an arcade that also boasts an interactive, HUGE train set, a movie theatre, a fishing lake stocked with catfish, a nature trail (sunglasses provided by BluBlocker), the Gingerbread House restaurant which serves breakfast and supper donated by Perkins Restaurants, two swimming pools and smiles like you have never seen before!

Give Kids The World also supplies "wish kids" and their families with a 3 day pass to Walt Disney World theme parks, a 2 day pass to Universal Studios and a 1 day pass to SeaWorld. PLUS, they will also give passes away for various other Florida attractions.

Did I mention that ALL of this is TOTALLY FREE to wish families?

ALSO, they provide airfare, car rental, parking passes and spending money.
AS WELL AS free camcorder rental with video transfer to VHS or DVD, stroller rental, DAILY gifts for the kids, freebies (like face painting) at the theme parks, priority status at the parks so you don't have to wait in lines, Parents' Night Out with free babysitting, cell phone AND dinner, complimentary film for your 35mm camera, free pizza delivered to your villa or to eat at poolside. I can't even mention all of the amenities because there are so many!

The Disney characters visit the village regularly so the kids can see Mickey, Minney, Goofy, Pluto, Snow White, Mary Poppins and many others throughout the week. Santa visits every Thursday and gives gifts to all the kids.

We all had such a fantastic time and I wanted to share this experience because I know that someone on this board knows of a child with a life-threatening illness that deserves to be treated like royalty. Give Kids The World NEVER turns away a wish child. The village is a multi-million dollar "resort" that was built almost entirely on donations from corporate sponsors and individuals.

PLEASE, check out their website at http://www.gktw.org to find out more. The website for Make-A-Wish Foundation is http://www.makeawish.org . It only takes a few keystokes to nominate a child for wish granting and I guarantee that it will impact a family's life forever!

Thank you for taking the time to read this very wordy post, but I really felt like this was worth sharing.

A VERY thankful,
aerostargal

 

I am glad yall had fun and am so happy that your child is in remission!!!! We have many local events around here as fun raisers for the make a wish charity, every penny donated is VERY WELL SPENT

Again congrats

 

That is awesome!!!!!! My heart goes to your family! It so nice to hear about the good deeds being done in our world. Thanks for a very nice post.

 

Thanks guys, it WAS awesome! I can't say enough good things about these organizations. It was wonderful to be able to spend a week with the kids and not have to say "NO!" all the time.

If any of you know of a family that has a child who has/had a life-threatening illness PLEASE pass along the website addresses for Make-A-Wish and Give Kids The World.

And, if you like to read biographies, may I recommend a book titled The Gift of Life by Henri Landwirth. It is his story of surviving the Holocaust as a young boy and how he founded Give Kids The World.

Mr. aerostargal and I decided that we will move to Orlando when we retire so we can spend our days volunteering for the children and their families. GKTW has over 900 people volunteering each week and I would LOVE to be one of them. We were sad to have to leave there!

Blessings to all,
aerostargal

 

I’m happy to hear your daughter is doing well! It’s also nice to hear of a worthwhile organization these days! Tim

 

Ha Ha!!! I just noticed the Disney banner at the bottom of this thread! Coincidence??

Which also reminded me that if anyone is planning a family vacation to Orlando, I can highly recommend an ULTRA kid-oriented hotel with very reasonable rates. If you are interested, let me know.

aerostargal

 

We have given a good amoun to the foundation.
Never thought about it until a freind of the families son died of lukemia.
He was very sick when he went to Disney World.
Mickey put him to bed every night.
Then one night as Mickey put him to bed, he died in Mickeys arms.
Sad.....wonderful foundation.