Episode Two: The One Where Our Wish Came True

If you have been keeping up with the Bibbidi Bobbidi Basics podcast, (and if you haven’t then what have you been doing with your life) then you might have heard my conversation with Katie. I was honored to be her first live guest on the fresh new season of the pod “the one with all of my friends.” We started out chatting about life updates, my status as a Slytherin, rapid-fire trivia, and some of my Disney favorites (Tangled everything). 

It wasn’t too long before the conversation took a more serious turn. Katie asked me why I loved Disney and to talk about the special place that Disney held in my heart. Everyone’s story and connection to Disney is personal and unique. Mine centers around my family and my little brother, Matt, and the Make a Wish Foundation. 

Matthew Daniel Roberson Kelley was born in March of 2000 when I was almost 8 years old. He was born with Prune Belly Syndrome which meant that he had limited function in his kidneys. My mother’s doctors said that he would be stillborn most likely, and if he did happen to be born alive, he would have no real “quality of life.” I wonder how that doctor felt to be proven wrong. Matt was born, and he fought for his life every day. He loved baseball, American Idol, his church family, singing, and all things Disney. He was, and continues to be, the bravest person that I have ever known. His life was full of medical treatments and surgeries, and he never complained. He showed me what “being alive” truly means. I am the person that I am because of his influence on my life. We had almost seven full years with him before he passed away, and his presence in my life is stamped on every page of my story with Disney. In 2002, Matt’s doctors started talking to my mom about the Make a Wish foundation, and their mission to help kids with life threatening illness. They got her in contact with a representative from the Arkansas chapter, and they started the paperwork. Matt was too sick for a little while after that, but eventually, his medical team approved a wish. Matt’s wish, only being three years old, was essentially chosen by my parents. They wanted to give him and I and our family the opportunity to experience the “happiest place on earth.” 

We stayed at Give Kids the World Village for the week of our visit, and it was an incredible experience. GKTW is “an 89-acre, whimsical non-profit resort that provides critically ill children and families from around the world with magical vacations at no cost” (https://www.gktw.org/about/). Their property and mission is carried out by volunteers who help out all over the complex from the ice cream shop to the childcare areas. Every family gets to stay in a villa that affords them privacy, and they serve ice cream until way later into the night. Each morning the mayor of the village, who happens to be a gentleman rabbit, visits and leaves presents for both wish kids and their siblings. I also remember that they had some of the best double chocolate chip muffins I had ever eaten. It is really funny how some memories stick out while others fade as soon as we make them. 

Our week at Disney World was filled with laughter, Disney magic, and the creation of memories, some that would last long after Matt left us. Disney cast members went out of their way to ensure that we had a magical experience each day. We wore buttons to every park that identified us as the family of a Wish Child. We rode rides over and over again. We ate Mickey bars and met characters. I got autographs, and for a week we were able to feel like a “normal” family. For that week in time, my parents were concerned with getting to the parks using the bus system and not Matt’s treatments. They weren’t worried about his dialysis not working or his rate of infections increasing. We all wanted to make the week as special as we could because we knew there was a significant chance that this would be the only time we would all spend in Disney world together. There wouldn’t be any return trips. 

March 1^st, 2007 Matt passed away in my childhood home. He was never well enough to make it onto the transplant list and his body couldn’t sustain itself any longer. My mom held him and wept. She wasn’t thinking of Disney at that time. None of us were. But when it came time for the funeral, my mother pulled out our Disney scrapbook looking for photos to include in his memorial video. It brought us closer to have those memories to look back on. Disney gave us that opportunity and those memories that carried us through. 

We trudged through months of grief and sadness. His loss was the hardest experience that we have had to go through. But we did it. And after a few months my mother pulled out the scrapbook again. We shared memories with one another and it helped us to feel a little better.