Meet Holman, the 2,000th Wish Kid

Holman loves everything to do with the outdoors. He rides a dirt bike. He shoots clay pigeons. He fishes, plays baseball, and rides a horse. Holman is a quintessential farm boy, and he wouldn't have it any other way. 

But his battle with lymphoma has been tough. Instead of being outside, Holman was stuck in the hospital for seven months. At one point, the doctors believed Holman wouldn't make it, but Holman did make it. “He is a survivor,” said his mom. 

Holman is currently in remission, but the ravages of his battle with lymphoma are still evident in his day-to-day life. He had to learn to walk again. Although he can still play catch with his siblings, he isn’t able to play baseball. He tires easily, and sometimes uses a wheelchair. However, Holman keeps fighting. “We keep looking to the future with him and pushing him to work hard and see more miracles in his life,” his mom said. 

For his wish, Holman chose Disneyland because it's a happy place where he knows he can go and forget about everything and just focus on fun. Holman was so excited for his wish that he talked about it nonstop and even downloaded an app on his phone to check the wait times for the rides. (NOTE: Wish kids go straight to the front of the line!)

When he was in the hospital, Holman couldn't eat by mouth. These days, he takes no meal for granted. He made extensive dining plans to sample steak on a stick at Bengal Barbecue, chow down on clam chowder, banquet on bread bowls, chew up churros, and pig out on popcorn. 

Holman and his family left their Magic Valley home on December 26th and traveled to sunny Southern California. On his flight, Holman was invited to sit in the pilot's seat. He rode on Splash Mountain (his favorite), enjoyed as much fine dining as possible, and spent quality time with his family, enjoying his dream vacation. From what we hear, the trip went smooth, and everyone got home in time to celebrate New Year's Eve. 

"This wish kept his hopes up; it gave him something to look forward to and he really is so grateful to get to go. Wishes are so much to these kids. Seriously, I can’t tell you how this gave him a positive focus during a very scary and sad time of his life as he battled cancer and the complications of having most his intestines removed as a complication from chemo," said wish mom Karin.