A Long Season Apart

Before Emmett ever stood under the Alaska sky, he and his family spent months living in a much smaller world.

After he was diagnosed with cancer in fifth grade, Emmett’s life quickly began to revolve around hospital rooms, treatment plans, and long stretches away from home. For weeks at a time, Shands became the place where he slept, ate, learned, waited and healed.

His family’s rhythm changed, too. Anne spent weekdays with Emmett at the hospital. Kevin moved between home and Shands, picking up meals, keeping up with laundry, and making sure Emmett’s older brother, Eli, had what he needed.

It was a season that pulled all four of them in different directions. Eli kept going to school and tennis while also carrying his own part of the story: he became Emmett’s bone marrow donor.

Even when Emmett finally came home, recovery kept life from feeling normal right away. Because his immune system needed time to rebuild, he spent much of the next school year attending class virtually. His school helped him stay connected, but he was still learning from home while his friends were together in the classroom.

The months were hard on everyone. Even now, Kevin said talking about that time can bring back a physical reaction, the kind that shows how deeply a family carries a season like that.

But through it all, Emmett kept moving forward, one long hospital stay, one quiet day at home, one virtual school morning at a time.

Emmett’s Guiding Light

Even during the hardest parts of treatment, Emmett’s mind kept wandering beyond the hospital walls.

He had always wanted his wish to involve a trip. So during the long days at Shands, he and his family spent time looking through guidebooks, flipping through possibilities and imagining where they might go when he was well enough to travel.

For a kid who loves books and research, the wish wasn’t just one big decision. It was something Emmett could think about, study and shape for himself.

Eventually, Alaska kept rising to the top.

Part of the idea came from the shows Emmett watched while passing time in the hospital. One followed bears in Alaska as they prepared for winter, and the wildness of the place caught his attention. Then came images of the Northern Lights—bright colors moving across a dark sky—and the wish became clearer.

Anne’s parents had once lived in Alaska, too, which gave the place a family connection. Emmett could hear their stories, look through the guidebooks and picture a place unlike anywhere he had ever been.

By the time he chose his wish, Alaska was not just a destination. It was the faraway place he had been looking toward

Where the Sky Came Alive

Emmett and his family traveled to Alaska in February, when the nights were long, the air was cold, and the Northern Lights were most likely to appear.

A Northern Lights photography tour took them far outside the city, away from the glow of streetlights and into a darker, quieter stretch of Alaska sky.

There, they waited together.

For Emmett, this was the moment he had imagined from hospital rooms and guidebooks: standing under the night sky, watching for the colors he had crossed the country to see. When the lights appeared, they filled the darkness with green, shifting across the sky in a way that felt almost impossible.

The family came home with beautiful photos, but the experience itself was bigger than any picture. It was cold, quiet and unforgettable, exactly the kind of wonder Emmett had chosen.

The trip also gave them another Alaska adventure they had been excited about from the start: dog sledding. Emmett and his family got to meet the dogs, hear their excited barking and feel the sled move across the snow. It was fast, loud and full of life, a completely different kind of joy from the stillness of the Northern Lights.

They also went ice fishing and sledding, filling the trip with the winter experiences that made Alaska feel even more real. After so much time spent indoors, every cold breath and snowy view became part of the wish Emmett had imagined for so long.

A Family Under the Same Sky

Emmett’s wish was something he chose for himself, but Alaska gave the whole family something they needed.

For months, the Engemanns had been pulled in different directions. Anne and Emmett spent long days at the hospital. Kevin moved between home, work and Shands. Eli kept up with school and tennis while also stepping into the extraordinary role of being his brother’s bone marrow donor.

In Alaska, they were finally together in one place, far from the routines of treatment and recovery.

Even Eli, who was not sure at first about leaving behind tennis, friends, and Florida warmth for the cold of Alaska, found himself drawn into the experience. What began as Emmett’s wish became a chance for the brothers, and the whole family, to share something new.

They stood under the Northern Lights together. They rode behind sled dogs together. They made memories that had nothing to do with hospital rooms, schedules or fear.

After a season when so much of life had been divided, Alaska gave the family a way to feel whole again.