Parker's Wish Trip - Day 1

Well, we made it! I'm writing this from the House of Hearts at the Give Kids the World Village in Kissemee Florida. We've been on Parker's wish trip for a full 24 hours now.

Our day yesterday started a little bumpy. When Parker woke up he was not acting normal and he didn't seem very interested in food or taking his medicine. After eating a little bit of breakfast he started looking really sick and then threw up all over the kitchen. Oh, boy . . . not the best omen leading up to our departure that night for the trip. Hoping it was just a fluke we continued to pack and Parker's nurse kept him up in his room and watched him closely for any indication what might be wrong. He just got worse and worse as the day progressed. It was clear that he had caught some sort of stomach virus. We were really worried and had reluctantly decided to cancel the trip because we just couldn't imagine taking him in that condition. We went back and forth about it on the phone with Brandy from Make A Wish and she had the driver on hold who was ready to come pick us up. In our past experience, these kind of viruses don't last much longer than 24 hours so we were worried that we would cancel the trip and then he'd start feeling better the next day and we would be stuck home and regretting our decision. We finally decided that if we could get him to the train station in Raleigh, once he was on the train, we would just be doing the same thing as at home: sleeping and spending a lot of time in the restroom. We were already planning to spend this first day at the village relaxing so we decided to go ahead and take the trip as planned and hope that Parker would be feeling better by Thursday morning. We really agonized over this decision and were so frustrated. Sometimes it seems like our family is destined to prove Murphy's Law.

It was a long night on the train and this morning four hours prior to our schedule arrival in Kissemee he was not doing well. He was pretty non-responsive and had stopped drinking. We thought we were going to have to take him straight to the hospital when we arrived. Jen woke him up an hour or so before arrival to try to get him to drink something and all of the sudden, he perked right up, got dressed, and seemed to feel pretty good. He was able to enjoy that last little while on the train and has been fine ever since. Hopefully he will wake up tomorrow still feeling well so we can make our planned visit to Disney World!

As for the trip so far, the kids were super excited and surprised when an enormous white limousine pulled up to our house at 5:30pm. Our driver Leroy gave us a really fun ride to Raleigh. The kids enjoyed pretending we were famous. When we checked in at the train station we were allowed to wait in the first class lounge. This was much more comfortable than the hard benches so that was very helpful since Parker was still not feeling well.

On the train we were directed to our sleeping cars. We had two private rooms on the train were we could sleep through the night as the train traveled south toward Florida. Kelsey, Jen, and Parker slept in the larger room and Jason and Connor slept in the smaller room. It certainly wasn't the most restful night of sleep we've ever had but it sure beats driving the whole way. This was Parker's wish, to ride a train, so it was fun to travel this way. We ate breakfast in the dining car and had a few hours in the morning to look out the window at the countryside going by. We were so grateful that Parker started feeling better that last hour because he was able to really appreciate the train experience. We will ride the train back to Raleigh next week.

We are staying at a truly magical place called Give Kids the World Villiage. This is a charity resort set up specifically for families traveling to Orlando on these wish trips. We have a private villa with two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and two bathrooms. The kids bathroom is huge with a handicapped accessible shower and a jacuzzi tub that Connor enjoyed tonight. We spent the afternoon exploring the resort. We started at the Amberville Train Station where we were able to ride a small train around the park with Parker and Connor taking turns driving the train. Inside there were arcade games, a miniature golf course, a huge model train setup (remember the one in Superman Returns? Like that, but bigger!) and a bunch of other fun stuff to do. All for free. We also fished at their private pond, played on their pirate ship, played on their playground that is set up as a life-size Candy Land game, explored their magic castle, movie theatre, and carousel that revolves inside an enormous red mushroom.

There are several options for food. There's a lunch/dinner place run by Boston Market, a gingerbread house where you can have a breakfast and dinner buffet, Pizza can be delivered to our villa each night, and best of all and ice cream parlor that is open all day until late at night where you can have as much ice cream as you want. All for free.

It's difficult to explain what it feels like here. There are literally a few hundred families here this week. All have a child with a life threatening medical condition and are here this week on the adventure of a lifetime. It's so fun to see people who are experiencing similar trials, and troubles as our family having an opportunity to put all of that behind them for a week and be treated like kings. The resort is managed by a small paid staff but is largely run by volunteers. There will be 1500 working shifts this week alone. All filled by volunteers from all walks of life. A group of teenagers, no doubt on a service night with their church, served us dinner tonight. I had an Army Infantry veteran drive me to pick up our rental car. He was severely injured in Iraq a few years ago and came here to Florida for the VA hospital which specializes in the type of therapy he needs. He volunteers at Give Kids the World Village four days a week because he said people did so much to help him when he came back from Iraq that he felt like he needed to give something back. Somehow I still feel in his debt.

So far it has been an amazing experience. One we will remember forever. And it has only been one day. If all goes as planned, we will spend tomorrow at the Disney World's Magic Kingdom!