Nine-year-old Laney Cook of Bradford has recently returned from a dream come true trip to the happiest place on earth, the Walt Disney World Resort, made possible through the Make-A-Wish of Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
“We hadn’t realized she would qualify until her doctor mentioned it,” Melissa Cook, Laney’s mother, said.
Diagnosed with a severe cardiac condition, Laney has had to endure consistent visits to the hospital, going through surgery, all while fully aware of the seriousness of her condition.
After a surgery in December, Cook’s mother-in-law, Penny Cook, reached out to Make-A-Wish to refer Laney to the program.
She was immediately accepted, and following the referral, volunteers with the program visited Laney at her home in Bradford to interview her and make her wish come true. Her wish was to visit the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and soon enough she was on her way.
Cook had to make sure, with Laney’s condition, that she could fly on an airplane before her wish could be made.
“It was always in the back of my head, ‘can she even fly?’ So, asking was hard enough because I didn’t want to hear the wrong answer,” she said.
But the stars aligned perfectly for Laney, as her doctor cleared the way for her to make it to Disney World.
As stated in the release from the Make-A-Wish agency, Laney stayed at Give Kids the World Village, a fairytale resort for kids just like Laney that features a gingerbread house restaurant, an Ice Cream Palace and the Castle of Miracles. Throughout her trip, Laney had the chance to visit multiple theme parks, including Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Universal Studios and SeaWorld.
Now back in Bradford, Cook said that the experience has had a lasting effect on Laney and the family.
“It’s more than a nice memory for us, and especially for Laney. We truly appreciated the trip, not only for her but for us as well, it helped to forget about all of those not-so-fun days. It was awesome as parents to be able to share that with her,” she said.
The experience has picked up Laney’s spirit, and will still carry her through her days long after her experience at Disney.
A strong and capable girl, she hasn’t let her condition hold her back from being an avid camper, swimmer and dancer. She continues to smile, and looks forward to more adventure throughout her life.
Wishes like Laney’s cannot take shape without one crucial, first step — a wish referral.
The most common misconception about Make-A-Wish is that it only provides wishes for dying children. To the contrary, Make-A-Wish fulfills wishes for children living with life-threatening medical conditions and believes that a wish experience fills its families with hope, strength and joy.
Make-A-Wish of Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia is a non-profit organization that grants wishes to children, aged 2 ½ to 18, with life-threatening medical conditions. Currently, the local chapter is one of the most active in the country, having fulfilled more than 17,500 wishes. Frequent flyers are encouraged to donate their unused air miles to Make-A-Wish through the Wishes in Flight Program. Those miles are turned into free flights for kids battling life-threatening medical conditions and, once donated, they never expire. To learn more, visit at greaterpawv.wish.org/wishes-in-flight, call Make-A-Wish at (800) 676-9474 or visit its Web site at greaterpawv.wish.org.
