A wish come true
Philip Whitaker’s voice bubbles over with recounts his adventures in Florida recently.
“I met Spiderman,” he says reverently about meeting his hero. “I loved the Spiderman ride and meeting the superheroes – Spiderman was there, and Captain American and Storm and Wolverine.”
It was a special birthday meeting for a special kid. The Greenwood boy – who turned six on Jan. 6, the same day he met his heroes – travelled to Orlando with his family through the MakeA-Wish program. His wish? Meet one of the superheroes he idolizes.
“I know them all,” Philip said seriously. Superheroes are, after all, serious stuff when you’re six.
Make-A-Wish Atlantic went far beyond a simple meeting, though. They turned Philip into a superhero himself as the Whitaker family prepared to depart Halifax on Jan. 2.
Philip dawned his cape and mask to become Super P and help West Jet out of a tight spot. With the “key to the plane” missing, Super P was off faster than a speeding bullet to search the departure area and make sure the flight left on time, much to the applause and cheers of other passengers.
With the help of a team at the airport, Super P was able to find the key and save the day.
“They lost the key but it was hiding right in front of a water bottle,” Philip says.
Then the family – Philip, along with mom and dad, Erin and Glenn, and his three siblings, Bryson, Joshua and Millie – was whisked off for a week of Florida sunshine and a superhero-filled adventure.
Special experience
excitement
as he Philip’s wish was approved more than a year ago, says Erin, but the family was waiting for him to grow tall enough to go on the Spiderman ride he desperately wanted to ride. But that wasn’t all.
“One of my favourite parts was the Transformers ride,” said Philip. “It’s a very fun ride. Very fun.”
The family visited the Animal Kingdom and went on a safari – “We saw rhinos – white ones,” Philip says – and the little boy rode his first roller coaster. They went fishing, met pirates and high- fived Mickey Mouse and Pluto during a trip to the Magic Kingdom. “I went on a water ride and we got all wet,” Philip said. He also got to participate in the Lion King show and shook maracas all around the stage.
“And the monkey tried Joshua’s hair,” he added.
The family returned home on Jan. 9, but Philip, who is in Primary, hasn’t stopped talking about his experience since then.
“It was an amazing experience and he’s loving it,” Erin said.
“It was more than I could’ve imagined – it was fantastic. He’s still talking non-stop about it. And the nice thing was, it wasn’t all for Philip – it was for all of the kids. They all got to share in the experience.”
Feeling normal
to
eat out
of The trip gave the family the chance to forget about Philip’s medical issues and relax.
Philip was born with esophageal atresia, a congenital condition that causes the esophagus to end before it connects to the stomach.
“His esophagus never fully connected at birth, so when he was four days old, he had his first surgery to put in a feeding tube,” said Erin.
D o c t o r s attempted to repair Philip’s esophagus when he was three months old, but the gap was too far apart.
“Between now and when he was first born, he’s been in the OR close to 50 times, including seven major surgeries,” Erin said. Some of those surgeries included repairing post-op difficulties, while others aimed to reduce problems like acid reflux.
“He’s been a busy little boy, but kids are resilient. He still enjoys seeing the doctors.”
For one week, though, he enjoyed being around other children who faced similar challenges. The family stayed at a resort that housed children with similar issues and also had things like feeding tubes.
“Philip walked up to a girl at the pool who had a feeding tube and said, ‘I had one of those, but they took it out.’ He showed her his scar and he was really happy to talk about it,” Erin said.
“It was nice to see him able to relate like that with the other kids.”