I wish to hug Donald Duck at the Walt Disney World® Resort
Sasha
4
leukemia
Sasha’s Wish Creates Everlasting Joy and Precious Family Memories
At only 4 years old, Sasha is a bubbly, outgoing child who is bursting with personality. She loves to tell jokes and laugh at cartoons starring her all-time favorite character, Donald Duck.
But at a tender age, Sasha received a heartbreaking leukemia diagnosis. Suddenly, she went from giggling with her friends to spending days at a time in the hospital, enduring painful medical treatments. “Treatment became our life,” said Randi, Sasha’s mom. “We had to live one moment at a time.” Through it all, Sasha’s favorite Donald Duck cartoons gave her a reason to smile again.
When she learned that she would be granted a wish, Sasha knew that she wanted to give her favorite silly bird a big hug in his home at the Walt Disney World® Resort. Soon, Sasha and her family traveled to Florida for the Disney experience of a lifetime.
As soon as she arrived at Magic Kingdom, a beaming Sasha was taken to a special meet-and-greet venue where she found her feathered friend waiting for her with arms stretched wide. “Sasha’s face lit up with excitement the moment she saw him,” Randi said. “She had her hands over her mouth, her cheeks were turning bright red and she had this huge smile on her face. She was just filled with so much joy. It was so sweet to watch and really unforgettable.”
Together, Sasha and Donald Duck colored pictures of Disney princesses and posed for photos, Sasha grinning with delight the entire time. “I was really, really, really excited!” Sasha said. “It was magical. He even drew me a picture."
Sasha spent the rest of her trip skipping through the Disney parks, filling her autograph book up with signatures from even more of her favorite characters, experiencing exciting rides, like Mickey’s Runaway Railroad, and making memories that will last a lifetime.
“We didn’t realize how much she needed a wish until we were there,” Randi said. “It truly was just dream-come-true after dream-come-true. It was amazing to see Sasha so happy and to just get away from the hospital and treatment. Our trip was filled with so much joy.”
Today, Sasha is cancer-free and looking forward to a bright future filled with even more laughter and exciting adventures. Randi views Sasha’s wish as a turning point for their family.
“Before, we were living day to day, but after we went on the wish trip, we had this beautiful opportunity to just live in the moment and experience joy and celebrate that we were about to be done with this very hard chapter,” Randi said. “The work that Make-A-Wish® does, along with Disney, changed our lives significantly. It was truly magical.”
Together, Disney and Make-A-Wish® have made more than 145,000 wishes come true over the course of their 40-year relationship, with every part of Disney —from its theme parks and Disney stores, to sports-themed experiences, to the television and movie studios—helping grant these life-changing wishes.