I wish to go to Hawaii!
Ruby
8
leukemia
Ruby's Hawaii Wish
As the youngest of four siblings, Ruby loves being surrounded by family and friends. According to her mom, Katrina, this extroverted third grader would have playdates every day if she could and doesn’t let anyone leave the house without saying “I love you.”
For such an extroverted personality, the prospect of going to kindergarten—even during the first year of a pandemic—was an exciting one.
But that summer, disaster struck.
“For about a month, we noticed that she had swollen lymph nodes,” recalls Katrina. “I just thought she was going to come down with a sore throat and eventually get a cold. It was towards the end of July that my sister said, ‘Hey, that’s been there a while, you should probably take her in.’”
The result was every parent’s worst nightmare. Ruby was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
A Light In the Darkness
The oncology team at Arnold Palmer Hospital told the family, “We move quickly and we will explain later.” Within 24 hours of her diagnosis, Ruby had a port put in so she could start on chemotherapy treatments as soon as possible.
“It was terrible,” Katrina says. “I think one of the hardest things was having no friends or family during Covid.”
In a normal world, we would have been having coffee in the morning with other cancer parents and getting to know them and commiserating, and that wasn’t available. Those were tough times
-wish mom, Katrina
Due to her repressed immune system, Ruby was unable to join her peers for the first day of school. Instead, she caught up on schoolwork whenever she could and focused instead on treatment.
They were dark times for the entire family, but Ruby’s doctor knew that granting Ruby a wish was just what they all needed to provide a light at the end of the tunnel.
“She was the one that really encouraged us,” says Katrina. “And I will be honest, there were times when I was like, ‘This is not worth it.’ Planning or thinking about anything else seemed a little bit daunting. But her doctor just said, ‘Hey, her sisters need this. Ruby needs this. You guys need this. This is important.’”
When it was time to make her wish, there was only one thing on Ruby’s mind: a family trip to Hawaii!
The Gift Of Joy
Katrina and her husband Michael had lived in Hawaii towards the beginning of their marriage, and they had always promised their children they would all visit. And frankly, there was no better time, as Ruby had had her port removed and was now in the maintenance phase of her treatment.
The family arrived in Hawaii in the summer of 2023 for their stay at Sheraton Waikiki and immediately dove into everything the island had to offer—like surfing lessons! Isa and Luke from Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy taught everyone how to “hang ten” in some of the most beautiful waves in the world.
Another highlight of the trip was going to Chief’s Luau, where Ruby got to meet the Chief himself and receive a special souvenir. “The Chief gave [Ruby] his lei!” says Katrina. “His whole crew was like, ‘He doesn’t ever give that away.’”
The Hammer family brought home plenty of amazing memories from their Hawaii trip, and what started as something fun to look forward to became something to talk about.
“The Make-A-Wish trip brought a kind of closure,” said Katrina. “We’ll always be a cancer family, but it doesn’t define us. It doesn’t define Ruby. We made it, now we can move on.”
Free To Live
Today, Ruby is officially cancer free and has been able to attend third-grade with no interruptions. She has been taking dance lessons and even auditioned for a role in their upcoming performance of Peter Pan.
“It’s very freeing,” shares Katrina. “As a parent, for so long you have this file in your brain that’s keeping track of all things medical related. And all of a sudden it’s like, ‘I have space in my brain.’ It’s a pretty amazing feeling to be done with all of that.”
For kids like Ruby, Make-A-Wish is about more than a once-in-a-lifetime trip. It helps the entire family cope with the stress of treatment and gives them something to look forward to.
If you’re interested in giving back to deserving kids in your community, please consider donating, volunteering, or attending a Make-A-Wish event near you.
