Jonas' wish to go to Disney's Aulani resort

Some moments in life break you open. And some moments, if you are lucky enough, put you back together again.

When Jonas and his twin brother Josiah were born at 32 weeks, we were told they just needed a few extra days in the ICU. Three days later, I got a phone call that dropped me to my knees. The surgeon looked at me and my husband and said, "His gut is dead. Either we cut it out, or he is going to die." Jonas was three days old with a 50% chance of survival.

He survived. But survival came with a cost. Half of his small intestine, chronic anemia, blood transfusions, lifelong malabsorption. Every day, when Jonas stands next to his twin brother who doubles him in weight, the difference between them tells a story no mother ever imagined writing.

For years, every decision, every dollar, every breath was filtered through Jonas's medical needs. We give everything we have and keep going, because that is what you do when you love your children.

Then Make-A-Wish called.

Within two weeks of our story being submitted by our dear friend Phylise, the Georgia Make-A-Wish Foundation sent our entire family, all six of us, to the Aulani Disney Resort in Hawaii.

For the first time in years, we exhaled.

I will never forget watching Jonas, my child who knows hospital rooms better than most adults, standing in the Hawaiian sunshine, smiling at Mickey Mouse like he did not have a care in the world. He laughed, played, and marveled at the Disney characters. Not a patient. Not a diagnosis. Just a boy, fully alive, fully happy, fully free.

That image is forever sealed in my heart.

Our children did not come into this world perfectly. But they are perfect in their own way, brave beyond measure, full of fight, and full of grace. I tell Jonas every day, "You are half the size of your brother, but you have a big heart, and God has you here to give hope to other families and other children."

Make-A-Wish gave our family more than a vacation. They gave us proof that the world sees our son. They gave us rest we did not know how to ask for. They gave Jonas a memory that belongs entirely to him, one that has nothing to do with illness and everything to do with joy.

If you are considering donating to Make-A-Wish, please do.

Somewhere right now there is a mother on her knees just like I was. There is a child fighting harder than any child should ever have to fight. And there is a wish waiting to be granted that will remind that family — you are not forgotten. You are seen. You are loved.

Your gift does that.

For the Seabrooks family, it changed everything.