Make-A-Wish & American Airlines surprise 20+ children: "He's so excited!"
FORT WORTH — Make-A-Wish North Texas and American Airlines teamed up to surprise more than 20 children with critical illnesses with a trip to Walt Disney World. They made the announcement to the Wish families at the company's headquarters on Wednesday.
When the kids opened envelopes with magical boarding passes, cheers and screams filled the lobby.
"He's so excited!" said Amber Benton, whose six-year-old son RJ has been undergoing chemotherapy for a brain tumor.
The trip will be a much-needed break for the whole family.
"When you say you're doing to chemo on Friday, he says, 'Oh my gosh, I hate it, I hate it so much,'" Benton said. "With him having autism as well, he gets really bad anxiety. So it's pretty rough on him."
Cancer has taken over their lives for the past year.
"I lost my mother to cancer in December," said Ruben Benton, RJ's dad. "That was his support system. When he'd go to chemo, they'd call each other. They'd do chemo over FaceTime."
The Bentons were excited when Make-A-Wish North Texas invited them to the American Airlines headquarters for the event. They had no idea they'd be receiving a six-day trip to Disney World for the whole family.
The American Airlines 'Wish Flight' will be filled with only Wish kids who are dealing with a variety of serious medical conditions and their families.
"For all of them, they're struggling with medications and poking and prodding and all these doctor visits, so daily life can be quite difficult, particularly when you're not sure what tomorrow has in store," said Kim Elenez, president & CEO of Make-A-Wish North Texas.
This trip will give them all a much-needed break and a chance to just be kids for a little bit.
"I just want RJ and the family to be able to have a great time – no doctors, outside of everything, just be able to have fun," Amber said. "That would be wonderful for them."
This Wish Flight will take off on April 17 from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. American Airlines plans to send off the families with an epic party at the gate.
"Just as magical and incredible as the trip is, what happens after the trip oftentimes leads to incredible outcomes for our kids," Elenez said. "Now they've said, 'You know what? Anything is possible for me."
Make-A-Wish North Texas will grant about 630 wishes this year, ranging from a trip to Disney to a new puppy or meeting a favorite celebrity.
Right now, there are almost 1,200 children on the waitlist.
"Fundamentally, we need to raise the money and we need the volunteers to make them all happen," said Elenez. "Pre-COVID, we had hundreds and hundreds of volunteers, and that has been cut into a fraction of that. So we need people to come along with us and say wow that sounds like fun, I want to do that. It's a great way to engage with your community and make you feel like you're doing something that's making a difference."
If you're interested in helping support the organization, visit: https://wish.org/ntx
