Making dreams come true

By JERIANNE STRANGE
Glasgow Daily Times

October 10, 2008 10:57 am

— Last weekend, my children and I had an opportunity to enjoy the annual Fall Festival sponsored by the Bowling Green chapter of The Dream Factory.
This was our seventh year to enjoy the activities at Jackson’s Orchard and to reconnect with Dream Factory volunteers and other “dream families” that we see once or twice a year.
As my kids took off to go pick pumpkins out of the patch and to have their faces painted, I talked with some of the Dream Factory folks.
The group has been busy, granting several wishes to area children.
My son received his dream in October 2002. Our pediatrician referred Ryan to the group halfway through his treatment for bone cancer in 2001. He was not able to do much at that time, nor was he sure what he wanted to do. The Dream Factory ladies told him his dream was there whenever he decided what he wanted to do.
At the time, we were making regular trips to Indianapolis to see the surgeon who saved my son’s leg. On most of our trips, we would visit the Indianapolis Zoo, where Ryan and Kate thoroughly enjoyed the dolphin exhibit and shows. (A word to parents: A visit to the Indy Zoo and their fabulous dolphin aquarium is so worth the effort.)
During the course of our visits, Ryan and Kate got to know the trainers and even had the chance to go behind the scenes a few times to interact with the dolphins.
On one of our zoo visits, while watching the dolphin trainers with their charges, Ryan said he had decided what he wanted for his dream: he wanted to swim with the dolphins at the Indy zoo.
The Dream ladies were more than happy to begin arranging the experience for him. A week or so after we let them know what he had decided upon, they called to tell us that insurance guidelines at the zoo wouldn’t allow him to swim with the mammals there.
Rose, the woman who was organizing Ryan’s dream, promised to find somewhere my son would be able to splash about with the magnificent creatures.
A few days later, she called to tell us she had found a Disney cruise to the Bahamas where he – and the rest of us – would be able to swim with dolphins.
We shared the information with Ryan and asked if that was something he would want to do. As long as it involved getting in the water with the dolphins, he was game.
We flew to Orlando, where we boarded a Disney tour bus that took us to the coast and to a Disney cruise ship. We spent the next four days with Mickie, Minnie and a host of other Disney characters having a grand adventure.
And yes, we all swam with the dolphins
My children still talk about their experience.
I didn’t know anything about The Dream Factory until our pediatrician told me about it. Having firsthand experience with the group, I can tell you the volunteers who make these dreams happen work tirelessly and with a passion not often seen. Most of the folks stay quietly behind the scenes, doing whatever it takes to bring a smile to the face of a seriously ill child.
As I reminisced with many folks, I was touched again by how deeply the volunteers care about the children they assist and how touched the families are by the dreams that are granted.
To learn more about The Dream Factory, visit www.dreamfactoryinc. com.
Jerianne Strange is news editor at the Glasgow Daily Times. She can be reached at jstrange@glasgowdailytimes.com