Cinderella

"Second-grader Cassidy Shumway smiles as she is escorted back to her seat after being presented a special wish to visit Disneyland at Scera Park Elementary School, Friday, afternoon. Shumway suffers from a genetic disease that will kill her. She is being treated by Primary Childrens Hospital, and the disease has yet to be named, but is in the epilepsy family. Since her dream is to go to Disneyland, the school and neighbors collected enough money send the family to Disneyland."

I am generally very objective and can easily hide my emotions. But last week an assignment was sad and I kept thinking about it long after I left.

Cassidy Shumway is a second-grader at Scera Park Elementary School. She has been sick ever since practically being born.

At 10 months old she started having stroke-like seizures. She stopped using her right arm and eventually got so weak that she could not eat or hold her head up. She was hospitalized on several occasions, but the doctors were bewildered because a number of tests came up negative.

She has since been life-flighted to Primary Children's with status of 'epilepticus' and
then hospitalized with chronic kidney disease. Today she is in stage 4 kidney failure but is holding steady at 30 percent kidney function.

Obviously, things aren't going well. So family, friends and the school secretly collected donations, enough to fly the Shumway family of five to Disneyland, her dream vacation.

So when Cinderella surprised Cassidy at the school's annual Sing-In it was special.

I cannot help to feel awful for Cassidy and her family. It was such a touching moment for everyone there.

Just a reminder that we should live each day to the fullest.