When Shelby Miller was 18 months old, she was bouncing on a bed at her grandmother’s house. Shelby’s mom reached for the toddler, held her by the waist, and felt a lump.
That frightening discovery began a hard journey for Sherry Miller and her little girl, who live near Everett’s Silver Lake.
At Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Shelby was diagnosed with Wilms’ tumor, a cancerous growth on the kidney.
Within days of the tumor being found, Shelby had surgery to remove the growth and one kidney. Under the care of Dr. Douglas Hawkins, she also had 18 weekly chemotherapy treatments following the surgery in 2002.
Shelby is now 5. She’s in kindergarten at Silver Lake Elementary School. Today, she’s skipping school.
This time, Shelby and her mom will go on a fun journey. They’ll join five other children and their families on a Make-A-Wish Foundation trip to Disneyland.
Make-A-Wish adventures are always special occasions for kids who’ve had life-threatening illnesses, but this trip is unique. It begins with the first flight of Alaska Airlines’ Spirit of Make-A-Wish. The Boeing 737, custom-painted in Everett, is adorned with the wish-granting Genie character from the Disney movie “Aladdin.”
“We hope the aircraft will bring to light the wonderful work of Make-A-Wish, in terms of more wishes being granted,” said Amanda Tobin Bielawski, an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman. “We hope it will provide more visibility.”
Make-A-Wish is also included in the airline’s frequent-flyer charity miles program, which lets donors choose from several organizations that help travelers with medical issues.
In 2005, another Alaska 737 was specially painted at Goodrich Corp.’s Everett jet maintenance facility to look like a giant chinook salmon. Christened the Salmon-Three-Salmon, that plane became a flying billboard for the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board.
The wish plane’s Genie joins another Disney design, Tinker Bell, painted on an Alaska jet in 2005 for the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. Bielawski said the Spirit of Make-A-Wish will fly to many destinations. The first stop is John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif.
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport this morning, Shelby will help cut a ribbon to inaugurate the Genie jet before its scheduled 10:05 a.m. departure.
Boarding the plane with Shelby and her mom will be 5-year-old Josie Owen of Buckley; Angelina Karlson-Rivera, 5, of Olympia; Kaden Graham, 5, of Washougal; Jordan Yates, 4, of Kent; and 3-year-old Lizbeth Arizpe of Hillsboro, Ore.
Lizbeth, Jordan, Josie and Angelina have leukemia. Kaden suffers from DiGeorge syndrome, which brings rare congenital problems.
Shelby is now cancer-free and “doing great in school,” said Sherry Miller, a single mother who works at a Bellevue hair salon. After half-days in kindergarten, Shelby is cared for by her grandmother, Nadine Miller, until her mom gets home from work.
“She’s a pistol, that’s what she is. She’s an only child, and we’re a very close-knit family,” said Nadine Miller, who’ll get a break from child-care duties during her granddaughter’s five-day getaway.
Neither Sherry Miller nor her daughter have been to Disneyland. “It’s so exciting. Her dream is meeting Mickey Mouse,” Sherry Miller said. “She likes Belle, from ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ but the beast kind of scares her.”
Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted more than 144,000 wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. The chapter serving Alaska, Montana, northern Idaho and Washington fulfilled 225 wishes last year, said Tyson Lin, a Make-A-Wish spokesman.
Disneyland is a frequent wish, but far from the only one.
“One kid wished to be a robot builder,” Lin said. “A kid wished to go to a Sonics away game on the team plane. One went bug hunting in Panama. Another kid wished to have a custom Gibson guitar with an amp.”
If every wish could come true, no child would ever suffer.
Next month, Shelby Miller will have her annual exam.
“It’s a hard day for me,” her mother said. “She’s doing well. I keep praying.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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