Wishes coming true for St. Catharines boy
Dominick Stone wishes he were bigger.
There’s no doubt in his voice when the nine- year- old boy talks about being smaller than his friends in his Grade 4 class at St. Anthony school in St. Catharines.
He’s about 45 inches tall and only weighs 36 pounds – the same weight as his three- year- old brother Quentin. An average nineyearold typically weighs about 63 pounds and stand about six inches taller than Dominick.
“He was born with a congenital heart defect,” said Dominick’s mother Ashley Stone.
Dominck was born prematurely with three holes in his heart, although one of the holes was closed during a previous surgery. Physicians recently identified another problem with Dominick’s heart.
An MRI scan of his chest in July showed Dominick had a partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection – a rare congenital cardiovascular condition.
“His heart has been enlarging since he was born and they didn’t know why,” Stone said, adding her son’s heart has had to beat four times faster than it should to compensate for the defects.
“We can feel his heart getting worse, and you can hear it,” said Dominick’s grandmother Sue Duguay.
As a result, Dominick’s life expectancy would be about five years if his condition were left untreated.
“He would eventually have congestive heart failure, because ( his heart is) just getting bigger and bigger,” the boy’s mother said.
Dominick, however, said he plans to live to be “at least 100.”
And on Jan. 16, he will be given a chance to make those plans a reality.
While his family stays at a nearby Ronald McDonald House, Dominick will undergo life- saving surgery at Toronto’s Sick Kids hospital.
“We always say you have a special heart,” Duguay told her grandson.
And although Dominick will always have a special heart – at least from his family’s perspective – the surgery should correct the defects, giving him a heart that functions as it should and allowing him to “grow and gain weight,” his mother said.
“And then you’re going to catch up to everybody at your age,” Duguay told him.
Dominick’s mood brightened as he thought about missing six weeks of school while recovering from the surgery, but he suddenly frowned and slid off the couch in despair, realizing that “I’ll have to catch up on everything” when he finally returns to class.
Being given a chance to live a long healthy life is just one wish that is coming true for Dominick and his family.
“I’m going on a Disney cruise!” he said, with a big smile.
“He’s always wanted to go on a Disney cruise,” his mother said. “It goes to the Bahamas, and then it goes to their private island Castaway Cay.”
That cruise is being paid for by the Make- A- Wish Foundation.
Dominick is a Star Wars fanatic, with dozens of lightsabres hanging on a wall, and numerous other Star Wars toys throughout his bedroom. Even his bed is covered with a Star Wars comforter, below a poster that says: The force is strong with this one.
“He just loves Star Wars,” said his mom.
Although Dominick could have chosen a Disney cruise that included a Star Wars Day at Sea voyage, the family will instead be going on a Christmas- themed cruise.
“This is going to be a Very Merry Christmas Cruise.”
Dominick and his family will be special guests at a Make- A- Wish Foundation event on Jan. 7, when his wish will officially be granted.
And although the cruise isn’t scheduled to take place until next December – almost a year from now – Dominick hopes the months ahead will pass quickly enough.
“That’s OK, it’ll give you lots of time to recover,” his mother told him.
His nana reminded him about all the fun stuff to keep him busy in the months to come, including a stay at the trailer when the warm weather returns.
“That’s going to take up the whole summer,” Dominick exclaimed.
“It’ll be a fast year, won’t it?” Duguay added.
And a year after that cruise, Stone said the family hopes to take another vacation – visiting Walt Disney World in Florida when the new Star Wars Land opens in 2019.
The family, however, will be footing the bill for that trip.