"He is a bottle of joy. You rarely see a sad face on him and it's kind of miraculous with everything he goes through," shared his mom, Ashley, who received Christopher’s Spinal Muscular Atrophy diagnosis just before his second birthday. 

“We saw he was using his arms more than his legs to hold himself up, he started going to physical therapy and they noticed he was actually getting weaker instead of gaining strength.” 

While Christopher receives monthly treatments to help his muscles grow stronger, his family has watched his incredible strength again and again in so many ways.

“He is one of the most determined kids that I have ever seen,” shared his dad, Josh. “Being in the water for him is sort of an equalizer and when he found out that there’s such a thing as a Disney Cruise Line cruise that combines all his favorite things, that was just a given for his wish.” 

Christopher enjoyed thinking about his wish and the activities he looked forward to experiencing, like snorkeling and swimming with dolphins.  

“When he found out his wish was granted it was like Christmas morning, he was so excited,” Ashley continued. “It's things like this that show him there's so much more out there than just his disease." 

“The dolphin kissed me on the cheek, I didn’t even know they could do that! I had the best time ever,” said Christopher.  

“We had the most incredible week and Christopher had the best time! Every day was filled with experiences and it was so great not to think about appointments, school, work, or anything,” said Ashley. 

Now back from his wish, Christopher sometimes gets frustrated when he can’t always run, play or do the same things his friends can, but he has words of encouragement for anyone going through challenges.  

“Don’t give up, never give up,” said Christopher. “There’s always some way to do it.”