Make-A-Wish sends Mars family to Florida
MARS — The Patora-Skaneski family from Mars had a trip to Disney World planned for 2020, but it would take two more years before they actually made it to the park.
Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, the trip was scrapped when 3-year-old Skyla Patora was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in May. She had to immediately go into treatment at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
When the family finally took the trip in October, it was the result of multiple factors aligning, including recent updates in Skyla’s treatment and Make-A-Wish policy, according to Skyla’s mother, Michelle Skaneski.
“It was just this past summer that one, the doctor cleared her to travel in the fall, and two, Make-A-Wish opened up for travel wishes,” Skaneski said. “In the late summer, we started to be able to plan, and she was granted the wish to go down to Disney for three days, two at Universal and one at SeaWorld.
“It was a moment to be normal.”
Skaneski said her family was introduced to Make-A-Wish early in Skyla’s treatment process. With the family already planning a Disney World trip, and Skyla’s affinity for the movie “Frozen,” picking a wish to be granted was easy.
“Basically we were admitted to the hospital; we were there for weeks,” Skaneski said. “We got a form that said she qualified for a wish, and hopefully they would be able to grant it.”
Skaneski said the family of four, made up of herself, her husband, Chris Patora, Skyla and 8-year-old Noah Patora, had their flights, park tickets, food and other miscellaneous costs paid for by Make-A-Wish.
Once in Florida, the family stayed in a place specifically designated for lodging for Make-A-Wish recipients, Give Kids the World Village, where they were helped by volunteers from the organization.
Skaneski said the village was one of the highlights of the trip.
“One of the most impressive things down there for me was there was a lot of volunteer workers. The people that are down there want to be down there,” Skaneski said. “It was so beautiful to see that all of these humans had what they needed.”
Dana Antkowiak, senior manager of marketing and communications for Make-A-Wish Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia, said the organization gets referrals to grant wishes from social workers to family members to the patients themselves.
A social worker referred Skyla while she was at the hospital, and once she was approved as eligible for Make-A-Wish, volunteers step in to help make that wish come true.
“Volunteers meet with family and talk about types of wishes we grant,” Antkowiak said. “I wish to go, I wish to meet, I wish to be, I wish to have — there are different categories we can grant. We have a wish team that helps out with that.”
According to Antkowiak, going to Disney World is one of the most common wishes received by Make-A-Wish.
Skyla and her family had their trips paid for, and Skaneski said members of her extended family were able to meet them in Florida as well, just like was planned in 2020. Together, they went to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Hollywood Studios at Disney World, as well as Universal Studios and SeaWorld.
“This was the first trip the family has made since the pandemic and since she was diagnosed,” Skaneski said. “It was nice that we were able to have that opportunity to all be together.”
Antkowiak said Make-A-Wish grants wishes for youths with a number of conditions, and she stressed that the organization is not only aimed at children with terminal diagnoses. Instead, Make-A-Wish is geared towards giving families a reprieve meant to raise the spirits of a child going through treatment.
“We really believe that so much more than a life experience, these experiences have a big effect on a child's mental, physical and emotional health,” Antkowiak said.
According to Skaneski, the wish raised the spirits of everyone involved.
“This trip just gave us a chance to focus on our family and focus on a wonderful time to be with the family,” Skaneski said, “and trying to move forward with the best that we can and try and let the kids go outside and have fun.”
Antkowiak said Make-A-Wish relies in part on volunteers to help the organization grant the wishes of eligible children. Members of “wish teams” are assigned to a child in their area, meet with the family, and help in “determining the child’s most heartfelt wish.”
She also said “wishes were still happening over Zoom,” during the pandemic. Skaneski said the wish team for Skyla helped give her family a good experience.
“We worked with this couple that was assigned to us; they are wish granters,” Skaneski said.
Antkowiak also said Make-A-Wish gets a lot of donations from businesses and individuals, which help to grant wishes in local communities.
The Thorn Hill Tap House in Wexford gave more than $4,000 to Make-A-Wish in the presence of the Patora-Skaneski family Nov. 9.
“Right from the start, we made it a priority to give back to the community,” said Marc Teklinski, owner of the tap house.
Skaneski said Skyla had a good time at all of the parks in Florida, but her favorite parts of the trip were when she got to do activities related to “Frozen.”
“We went on the Frozen ride, the Frozen singalong; anything involving Frozen she was so excited for,” Skaneski said. “We were at Magic Kingdom from sun up to sun down.”
Skaneski said the trip did provide a reprieve for not only Skyla, but her whole family, who have been with her on her journey through cancer treatment. Once they got off the plane in Florida, the family members were able to remove their face masks, which Skaneski said was a literal breath of fresh air.
“It was a big thing to take off our masks outside ’cause we had been wearing them since 2020,” she said. “It was a wonderful break of being in the hospital and in treatment.”
Skyla had a bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with leukemia, and is currently not in treatment. With Skyla’s wish granted, Skaneski said she and her family are just trying to live in the moment now.
“We are still in the woods, but in a clearing. We're not out of it, but we're focusing on today,” Skaneski said. “She is in school, she is in dance class, and we are trying just to focus on letting the kids be kids.”
