The Disney World dreams of a 4-year-old Ohio girl who’s recovering from leukemia are looking better this week after plans for the Make-A-Wish Foundation to pay for the trip were scrapped.
The girl, McKenna May, completed intensive treatment in June for the cancer she was diagnosed with more than two years ago. It was that treatment that prevented her from going to Disney when the Make-A-Wish trip was first discussed in January 2011, McKenna’s grandmother, Lori Helppie, said Thursday.
But McKenna is now on once-a-month aftercare visits that would allow time for her to make the trip to the Magic Kingdom, her mother, Whitney Hughes, told CNN.
However, McKenna’s father, William May of Toledo, Ohio, who was never married to Hughes, says Make-A-Wish’s money would be better spent on terminally ill children who will never get to experience Disney otherwise since his daughter is free of cancer.
He’s refusing to sign paperwork that would allow the foundation to pay for McKenna’s trip.
“There’s children out there that deserve a trip like this that will never get to experience it,” May, 28, told CNN Thursday. “My daughter can go when she’s older and can remember it. I’ll pay for it.”
Rather than pay upwards of $3,500 for McKenna and her family to go to Florida, May suggested the group just get the girl a $200 swing set for her backyard.
Paul Allvin, vice president for brand advancement with Make-A-Wish Foundation of America in Phoenix, told CNN a child need not be terminally ill to qualify for wish fulfillment. That was the case when the organization started, but the policy changed more than 20 years ago, he said.
These days, all a child needs to qualify is a doctor's verification that the child has or had a condition that would be life-threatening if left untreated, Allvin said. As many as 80% of "Wish Kids" live into adulthood, he said.
"What we would never do is penalize a child for getting better," Allvin said.
Susan McConnell, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish for Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, told the Sentinel-Tribune of Bowling Green, Ohio, that McKenna is certainly entitled to the organization’s help.
Hughes agrees with McConnell, saying her daughter endured a lot during her treatment and deserves the Florida trip.
"She's really excited," Hughes told the Sentinel-Tribune, which first published accounts of McKenna’s story this week. "It's all she's talked about for the last three months."
After May refused to sign off on the trip last month, Hughes withdrew her request with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and tried to raise money privately, putting out collection jars around the area where they live and setting up an online donation site.
Hughes said Thursday it will take $3,500 for her, McKenna, McKenna’s younger sister and her grandmother and grandfather to spend a couple of days at Disney and a couple of days at Daytona Beach “to build sandcastles.”
McKenna’s mother and grandmother have also set up a site to accept donations online, http://www.gofundme.com/Make-McKennas-wish-happe. That site showed a flurry of donations Thursday as McKenna’s story spread across national media and donations passed the $9,700 mark early Thursday evening.
“I will get her there someday, but I’m not sure when I’ll get her there,” Hughes said Thursday morning. With the online response, it appears McKenna’s dream may come true sooner rather than later.
Nevertheless, "We are ready to grant this wish if the parents can work it out," Allvin said.
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@patty. I THINK THE MOM IS DESERVING OF A VACATION! Evidently you have never had a sick child. Its a miracle the child is cured. She had to go thru treatments ...unpleasant treatments...and she deserves to go to Disney. She may not remember the trip later...but she will enjoy it today...and today is what counts. not what she remembers 10 yrs from now. Shame on you!!
The child may not remember the trip when she's older, but she will enjoy the trip now. For anyone, any kid, and especially a kid who has suffered through the pain and fear of cancer diagnosis and treatment, joy in the moment is valuable in itself, regardless of the "permanent" benefit.
And Patty? Wow. Yeah, some "selfish woman" to want to see her daughter excited and having fun after years of doctors, hospitals, injections, tests, treatments, fatigue, malaise, pain, and emotions she's not equipped to express or manage at that age. Shame on that selfish woman who just wants a vacation for herself.
I skinned my knee but it's healing quite nicely now...can I get a free trip to Disney too with the whole extended family? It ain't cheap, ya know and I deserve to go. Why can't the grandparents pay their own way?
Exactly how is a skinned knee anywhere like a 2 year cancer struggle of a small child. Are you even smart enough to comprehend how awful cancer treatment can be you insensitive jerk? This little girl suffered through 2 years of treatment battling her cancer and just because its "gone" now doesn't mean it won't be back at her 6 month workup or 1 year workup. She deserves the trip you raging !d!ot. But I do agree - the grandparents should chuck in their fair share. Looks like she'll get her trip because of the online response. So when you get cancer, I hope someone tells you its no worse than a skinned knee and suck it up.
@Jim
Wow, skinned your knee huh? What are you, 5? It's cancer. She's a kid. Have a heart and get a clue. You're the kind of person that has ruined this country. Obviously cancer had never touched your life in any way. You'd better pray it never does, karma is a . . . well, you know the rest.
@ JIM your mother should have swallowed now your dad has to look at his disappointment everyday (YOU) he should go to Disneyland not you!!
Many cancers have a tendancy to keep recurring every few years until the patients can no longer survive the treatments, and then they die of cancer. When young children get it, the safe bet is that they will have very painful, very short lives.
Many people have a really hard time affording trips like this. Disney is charging $87 a day admission now; there's airfare, hotel, food, transportation. I don't think these people expect a free ride; but making light of a four year old's battle with cancer shows little compassion.
Also, these people are most often tapped out financially from the medical expenses.
I can't believe this is even a question! Of COURSE that child who is in remission from cancer should get the trip. Your poll is misleading: sure, Make-A-Wish should be for ill children, but this child was so ill she couldn't originally take the trip! How can people be so cruel? I wish all the children could take become cancer-free and enjoy their Make-A-Wish trips even more. Definitely let this child go.
Sounds like the 'Father' wants to punish the Mother. What parent would deny their sick child a chance to make memories and have some time not thinking about how sick they are/were? As far as giving the trip when they've gone into remission or been cured, they've already gone through so much, they deserve a chance to just live and laugh. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't bring my child to Disney while they're actually undergoing these procedures! How about Disney fund these trips? For all the money they make off of people, it would be nice if they would sponsor children who've been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
I actually see the father's point. Sending a three-year-old to Walt Disney World (her age when the trip was originally planned) is more about creating memories for the surviving family than for the sick child. A healthy three-year-old doesn't get a lot out of such a trip; for that matter, neither does a four-year-old. Experts right and left will tell you to wait until a child is at least six or seven years old before embarking on such a trip. There may have been a sense of urgency to send this girl to Disney World with her family when everyone thought she was going to die, but that's no longer the case.
Waiting a few years will make all the difference in what the girl gets out of the trip. And, if things are going as well with her health as is being reported, she'll be that much stronger and healthier next year.
As far as who pays: The "dirtbag" father is right here. The Make a Wish Foundation is deluged with requests from terminally ill kids and has limited funds. While this girl may have been terminally ill at one point, she thankfully no longer is. The father has said that he will pay for the kid's trip to Disney "when she's older and can remember it" (my point above). He would prefer this charitable donation to go to someone who needs it more. Why does this make him such an evil person? I'm sure the same people calling the father names here would otherwise say that that was the Christian thing to do ...
If the child hadn't already been looking forward to the trip, and if the dad knew for sure he would have the money to pay for a trip later, I could cut him some slack, but this kid went through some bad stuff, and just because she's in remission now doesn't mean she doesn't have challenges ahead.
She is in remission so she is not out of the woods – if she falls ill again she may pass away. She wants to go let her go in case next year she doesn't have the chance. Her father is taking that from her. She won't be FREE AND CLEAR until at least 5 years at which time the cancer can come back and even more aggressive she may not be so lucky. You are right her family will have memories of her if she is gone – but wouldn't it be nice to see her smile and have a good time rather than to remember her in pain, sick or crying from all she has gone through. I don't think that is too much to ask for.
Why should this guy have any approval rights if he never bothered to marry the Mother?
Who said he never bothered to marry her? He shouldn't be judged on his former relationship with the mother. It's not unheard of for a woman to say no to marriage!
Yes, the little girl should go to Disneyland NOW. Cancer is gone one day but often shows up again the next. Promising to take the little girl "someday" to Disneyland is the same as saying never. For many cancer survivors – someday doesn't always come. To the father – if someday does come, remember she'll be picking out your nursing home and it won't be a Disneyland.
First off nobody is going to believe those kinds of bogus numbers. And second, that's nearly a 60 hour workweek.
@ Patty... Well hopefully a trip like this will help her FORGET the hell she's been through going through these treatments. Instead she'll have gone through this and have her father to thank for denying her wish...
Chuck, if you'd bothered to read back you'd find a comment from someone who currently works with MAW. They have plenty of money to take the children on trips. They're not "deluged" with requests. They just don't have enough people to go out and get families interviewed and signed up.
I feel like this father was being nasty. If mom ran off with the kid and he wasn't there because he couldn't be, no way would he have gotten just visitation and not joint custody.
I think they should donate everything that comes in to MAW, put their application back in, and go through MAW so she can get the special perks that come along with being a wish child. If he refuses to sign AGAIN he is obviously not worried about the other children and at that point her mother should take it to court.
True the money could be used for kids who are currently sick, however these children most likely have spent much time in and out of the hospital during their lives struggling for life. it's sad that the father can't see that right now he has his daughter alive and she's had to endure a serious illness. I'm sure she appreciates her gift of life and would like to celebrate it at this time by taking a wish trip. There's also no guarantee that her cancer won't return as it does with many chidren. The children who have recovered, at least for now, from a serious illness are just as important as the ones still struggling. I know. I have one.
Remission is just that......not cured. The cancer is waiting and the probability of it returning is greater than not. Give the little girl some time to enjoy her childhood. The treatments that she has undergone is torturous and painful. What kind of idiot would deny a child this – especially a father! He's not only cold hearted, he's mean. While I get the part about him wanting to pay for the trip, donors have decided that they want to help.........let them.
Thanks to the people that know more than I do, I've learned that MaW does not only provide for terminally ill kids. It may sound cynical, but I'm sure at one time, this was the case. I would donate if that were the case, but not for a child that has survived. We all have went through something...
My friend was in remission too. The remission lasted about a year & then the cancer returned. They were calling me a "survivor" when I was still on chemo & weighed 79lbs. The little girl was too sick to take this trip during treatment & Make A Wish has plenty of funds for her & every critically ill child too.
For example; I had to hide in my room from my own children & wear germ masks when my T-Cell count went down to only Four T-cells. The bacteria already in my body nearly killed me, forming masses in my organs. It took 3 years on 5 antibiotics simultaneously to drive the infection out of my bone marrow.
i sure hope she makes it to Disney world it is a dream come true for her ,her father should know better.