Gracie was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 10 days old. Our world was shattered with the what ifs and what nows.
We were told about the Make-a-Wish program one of the times we were in the hospital. It was used kind of as something to look forward to on one of the off months of the medications. We were so THRILLED!!! She had been through so much in her young life and there is no end until there is a cure. Gracie lives a "normal" looking life. But the work she, and all CFers do to stay healthy every single day is not for the weak hearted. We couldn't wait to take her on the trip of a lifetime.
We went to Disney World and DIscovery Cove in Florida. The original wish was to swim with the dolphins. It's something she always wanted to do.
We had the most AMAZING time! It was more than we could have EVER imagined. We got to stay at Give Kids the World Village, where there is nothing left out! We went to parties at night, met characters during the day, ate ice cream every day, rode rides, talked to the volunteers (who were AMAZING!), it was truly MAGICAL!!!
We went to Discovery Cove the first day to swim with dolphins and it was unbelievable. It's like an island right there in the middle of Orlando. Gracie LOVED the dolphins and LOVED snorkling! The weather couldn't have been more perfect.
The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and Epcot! You could find Gracie on Mount Everest or Guardians of the Galaxy! She loved ALL the thrill rides!!! We ate with the princesses in Epcot and she wore her Repunzel dress. We were treated like royalty every single place we went. It was amazing!
The third day we went to Magic Kingdom, seated in VIP in the shade, all the characters made a special point to see Gracie. I think we rode Seven Dwarfs train at least 5 times, due to the lightening lane access! We went in February and lines were low and there is just NOTHING Make-a-Wish leaves out. It was incredible.
We went to Sea World and Universal Studios day four and loved seeing the dolphins and riding the Harry Potter ride.
Day 5 we went back to the other park at Universal and ended the night at Hollywood Studios. We packed all that we could into the trip and it was better than we could have ever, ever imagined.
"We have been back for a month and half and Gracie hasn't spent one day NOT talking about it. It was incredible!!"
Gracie's mom
With this trip, we were able to experience something so magical and amazing. Something that really did make Gracie feel so unbelievably special. My favorite part of the whole trip was her attitude. Her happiness, her laughs. We spent time together with no other distractions.
Make-a-Wish has made such an unbelievable name for themselves. It was truly accomplished the mission of making wishes come true. We were able to completely forget about her disease (mainly) and just enjoy the laughs, love, happiness of our family together. THANK YOU MAKE-A-WISH!!!!