Darla and All of the Wonderful People at Make-A-Wish,

As the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® website says, Share the Power of a Wish^®. I never truly understood what that meant until my son Lucas was granted his wish to go to Walt Disney World Resort^®. When the Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteers came to our home there was a sense of hope and excitement that replaced days of worry, doctor’s visits and chemo treatments.

Lucas loves trains and wished to do the behind the scenes steam train tour at Disney World for his wish.

While on our wish trip to Walt Disney World, an employee of Disney contacted our family and asked if we could be at the Magic Kingdom at 6:30 a.m. on Monday. We had no ideal of what to expect, but thought it would have something to do with trains.

While waiting patiently in front of Magic Kingdom, an Engineer named Ed and the Main Street Operations Manager, Kent appeared and asked which one of us was Lucas. Lucas smiled and said “me”! Kent pointed at the Magic Kingdom and shared with Lucas that there were 30 people working some magic just for him behind the scenes.

Engineer Ed explained his past battle with cancer and his experience while enduring chemo. Then he presented Lucas with a railroad spike from the Disney Railroad. Lucas was the first guest to ever have received a spike from the actual Disney railroad! They also presented him with special pins and special Disney Railroad tickets.

He took us under Main Street Train station and shared with Lucas about the four steam trains that operated at Disney World and the history of those trains. Ed took Lucas inside the Engineers room. Lucas was on cloud nine at this point and we would of left very happy if that was the finale of Lucas’ wish.

But then Ed explained to us that they had a special antique car waiting to take us to Toon Town Disney. They shared that this car usually does not leave Main Street but today for Lucas it was going all the way to Toon Town. When we pulled into Toon Town we could hear the train whistle blowing and Lucas and Ed went up to the fence and the beautiful Lilly Belle was coming down the track.

It was a wonderful site seeing my little boy’s face light up. They allowed him to get into the cab and enjoy looking at a real steam engine up close and personal. Disney also presented Lucas with an engineer’s hat that all of the engineer’s autographed. Ed took us on a tour of Mickey and Minnie’s Houses and as we left Mickey’s house they shared that someone wanted to meet Lucas and his family.

Out appeared no other than Mickey Mouse. Mickey went down on one knee to greet Lucas and his brother with a giant hug. Next thing we knew there was a cast of characters to meet Lucas. We took a wonderful group picture. We were so happy but they shared there would be more. We would ride the train in with Mickey and Friends and be the opening family for the park that day!

We want to say thank you so much to everyone at Make-A-Wish for what you did for our family. I wish I could express to you exactly what this week meant for my son and my family. It was such a hard year for my family and to see both of my boys and laugh and even my husband acting like a little boy again meant the world to me.

Give the Kids the World Resort^®, oh what an incredible place! I could write page after page of the precious memories that we have from our week’s vacation, memories that will last my family a lifetime.

So thank you again Make-A-Wish for making one little boy’s dreams come true.

Thank you for one of the most magical moments of our lives. Thank you for the gift of laughter and joy that you presented to my family.

Thank you,
The Pendley’s
Chris, Lori, Lucas and Alex

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