(The following story by Jack Z. Smith appeared on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on October 25, 2009.)
FORT WORTH — Tatum Null has been through a lot for an 11-year-old, but you would have never known it by look on her face Saturday morning.
“I’m excited!” she said with a delighted grin, as she and her parents, David and Sherry Null, and younger sister Hannah prepared to board a train in downtown Fort Worth for a three-hour trip hosted by the BNSF Railway.
The train ride to Gainesville and back was a joint effort by BNSF and the North Texas chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that since 1980 has fulfilled the wishes of more than 225,000 children worldwide with life-threatening illnesses.
Tatum’s liver failed, and she needed a transplant. “They don’t know the cause,” her mother said. “But she has to take medicines daily to suppress her immune system so that she doesn’t reject her [new] liver.”
The Nulls live in Garland, and Tatum attends school in Richardson. On Jan. 1, 2006, Make-A-Wish granted Tatum and her family a big wish: a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Fla. But, as Tatum’s father pointed out, the foundation also sponsors numerous local events, such as the train ride.
“Every year, we go to about a half-dozen events,” he said. “They’re a lot of fun. The kids don’t talk about their illnesses there.”
Tatum said she was especially pleased to meet Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki at one event.
“We’re thankful for Make-A-Wish,” her father said. “They’ve done so many things for us.”
Gabriel Chavez, 4, of Fort Worth also eagerly awaited the train trip along with his parents, Louie and Adrienne Chavez, and their daughters, Lauren and Alexis. The trip included face painting, entertainment, snacks and more.
Although Gabriel looks healthy, his mother, a nurse at Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, said he has a rare blood disorder called histiocytosis that caused him to undergo two years of chemotherapy. He requires regular medical checkups, but “he’s been in complete remission since November,” his mother said. The family of five flew to Disney World in July, courtesy of Make-A-Wish.
“We will probably be paying medical bills all our lives,” she said. “But it’s worth it to see our son healthy and in full remission.”
Make-A-Wish is “amazing . . . they’re such a good organization,” she said.
And the train trip?
“It was awesome,” she said afterward. “We loved it.”