A family from Monroe is on their way to Florida for a Make-a-Wish trip for a 7-year-old boy who was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin Lymphoma in February.
More Make-A-Wish children and their families will have their wishes granted after Make-A-Wish Connecticut formed a new partnership with Avelo Airlines.
Due to the backlog during the pandemic, Make-A-Wish Connecticut has 300 wishes waiting to be granted and 70 of those are trips to Orlando, Florida. The new partnership with Avelo will allow families to fly to any of the 29 locations Avelo services.
“This partnership is really going to help us grant these wishes for these kids that deserve the hope and the strength to fight the fight,” said Kim Smith, the director of corporate and community giving for Make-A-Wish Connecticut.
On Thursday, Carter Harbron, a 7-year-old from Monroe, was one of the children to get his wish.
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“I’m going to Disney World,” Carter said.
“He loves Star Wars, he loves space, he loves animals and then he also really loves dinosaurs, so we thought Disney and a trip to Orlando with Universal would just encompass all of those things,” said Laura Harbron, Carter’s mom.
Carter was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin Lymphoma in February. He went through five rounds of chemo and spent 40 nights in the hospital.
“It was hard. There were some really hard days not knowing if the treatment is working, not knowing what we’re putting into his body and if the risk outweighs the reward. Therefore, just knowing that our Wish trip was coming up and it was on the horizon really, really helped us,” said Harbron.
It gave Carter’s entire family something to look forward to and made for an extra special send-off at Tweed New Haven Airport on Thursday as the Harbron family got early access to the plane and Carter had the chance to meet the captain and sit in the cockpit before takeoff.
They will be in Orlando on Carter’s eight birthday on Monday. Carter is most looking forward to making a lightsaber.
