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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There is something the matter with this man. At the very least, he is not listening to the professionals. First, there is no such thing as "cured" from leukemia. She is in remission for now, and thank God for that. These kids go through a lot and the care takers do too. They all lose precious time that they will never get back, and definitely deserve the break of a fun time together.
Seriously, she is free of cancer now but only God knows if that will be forever. If she was too ill while she was being treated for Cancer, she might not have been able to enjoy it. Now that she is in better health, why should she not be able to enjoy her dream. She is a little girl and that memory will last forever as the bright spot during a very difficult time and possibly could have been a fatal one. Dad is just now getting visitations?? He is NOT qualified or earned any rights to make life changes decisions for this little girl
this young girl's father should not have any say in this disney trip. i dont think this father SHOULD even has a say and should feel so lucky that his very young child is healthy and is given the opportunity of a lifetime. This "father" sounds like a selfish SOB. what right does he have to say whether his 4 year old daughter deserves this or not. even if he wanted to be the person to take her to disney, no one is stopping him from taking her when shes older. its ovbious that he is just mad he was not invited. i saw above that this dad was only recently given visitation. in the state of ohio when a couple is unmarried the mother is given full custody automatically upon birth of the child UNLESS the father legally seeks it himself. so im guessing that he would not have had a say in this decision if he had not recently acquired some sort of legal rights....in any case THIS LITTLE GIRL D E S E R V E S TO GOT TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!
The kid should still get the trip. No one is ever "free" of cancer, and even if it's in remission, the odds of recurrence are so high, chances are it'll come back at some point and, with a vengeance at some point.
Not necessarily. It doesn't always come back.
No wonder she never married the jerk.
Of course she shoudl go! Children need to be rewarded for getting well even more than being sick.
Why would you waste either taxpayer or donation cash making plans to send a 2 year old to Disneyland? She is too young to remember it. That's when it says plans began.. when she was 2.
She's 4 now and should be happy she will get to LIVE A LIFE. Let her parents pay for it.
The donations were made for children like this ,so this is what they get used for dweeb. Her sperm donor is just being a butt wipe because he did not care for her & now he can't go on the trip.
I personally know familiies who have benefitted from the Make a Wish Disney Trip and am a contributor to their organization. The best time for these children to go is when they have completed the most vigourous treatments to fight their disease; otherwise, the child is simply not well enough to visit (much less enjoy) Disney. The trip is not a final wish granted right before a child dies. It is a celebration for all that child (and his/her family) had to endure to get better and did it. Anyone who would begrudge a child a trip simply becasue that child is in receovery from a potentially terminal illness has never been involved in what that child (and his/her family) had to go through. This little girl earned her trip. And while it is nice that strangers are lining up to donate so her family can take her, she will miss out on the special perks Make a Wish kids get such as private time with a cherished Disney character and other royal treatments. Her father should have signed the forms and allowed her to go. Period. instead of him "saving up money so he can take her himself" he can send that money to Make a Wish so more children can participate. He can add the condition that the child must be dying to be eligible for his contribtuion.
The special perks Make a Wish kids(And Universal) get such as private time with a cherished Disney character and other royal treatments.
So true, free park admission tickets is just a tiny part of the Make A Wish Experience
I was an area Supervisor at Universal (Raptor 4)
And you always got a management level supervisor to escort our Make a Wish Guests
How about the CEO's giving up 1/1000th of their bonus next year and give the child the much deserved trip...
Considering what she has been thru, there shouldn't even be a question....
The father sounds like a jerk, but that shouldn't enter into it.
I hope the family uses the7 funds from the donations, itemizes every expense then donates the excess to Make a wish !
Then dad will shut up !
I hope the family uses the funds from the donations, itemizes every expense then donates the excess to Make a wish !
Then dad will shut up !
Or get a Good Lawyer!!!!!! then donate
This is exactly what I was thinking. Bless all the people who donated and bless all the other children that can benefit from this generosity.
As a former Cancer patient I know there is really no way that the doctors can say if she is really cured such a short time after receiving treatment. I also know that tomorrow comes with no guaranties and you need to live each day to the fullest.
Right now she is happy and well enough to go on her dream trip. If the Cancer (God forbid) should return – she may not be healthy enough to travel.
Let her have the trip and the memories while she is able to enjoy them – and let her family have the memories of a happy carefree child – if only for a short magical trip – in case things should turn bad down the road.
My prayers go out to this little girl and her family
Similar thing happened to my brother-in-law with the same organization. Basically he was punished for beating the odds, and this was YEARS ago.
Since both sides seem to be an impasse...I think that DISNEY should step in and donate the full trip to the girl...to help preserve the Make a Wish funds. Seems like pretty good PR for Disney, I'm surprised they haven't come forward.
that's actually a really good idea!