HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-11-04, Page 5For Jon Sanderson trip
to Disney World was
a very special occasion
BY TOBY RAINEY
Blyth’sownSunshineKidisa
special young man, and what
happened to him last week is still a
main topic of conversation among
hismanyfriendsatBlyth Public
School.
Six-year-old Jonathan Sander
son. who has acute lymphoblastic
leukemia, was one of 205 disabled,
terminally or critically ill children
from southwesternOntariowho
were chosen for a 16-hour whirl
wind trip to Walt Disney World in
Florida on October 27, the inaug
ural trip of the Sunshine Founda
tion of Canada.
Like most of the other kids who
were picked for the dream trip,
Jonathan was up well before 5a.m.
on that rainy Tuesday, in order to
be ready to leave from the London
airport at 6 a.m. aboard one of the
three Boeing 727's waiting on the
runway for the two and one half
hour flight to Orlando.
When they arrived in bright
Florida sunshine, buses were
standing by to take the kids and
their chaperones to the gigantic
theme park, where they were met
at the gate by Minnie Mouse,
Donald Duck, Goofy, and a host of
other larger-than-life characters
from the Magic Kingdom who
greeted the kids with loads of hugs
andkisses. (Mickey Mouse was out
golfing at the time, Jonathan says,
but he did turn up later in the day).
“The excitement and happiness
of the kids is impossible to
describe," said Elmer Sanderson,
Jonathan’s father, who accompan
ied his son on the trip as one of the
150 volunteers who went along to
help. “Itwas apretty emotional
time for everybody, and one I will
certainly never forget."
The group spent six hours doing
the things that all tourists do in that
magic world, including lining up to
see the spectacular, hour-long
All-America parade, which Jon
and his Dad photographed to show
the people back in Blyth.
All too soon it was time to go back
home, all in the same day, so that
some of the kids would not miss out
on the treatments many of them,
including Jon, need regularly at
the Children’s Hospital of Western
Ontario. It was a gruelling sche
dule, but throughout it all, not one
of the small tourists was ever heard
to complain, Mr. Sanderson said,
and most of them never even slept
until they were back in their own
beds again by around midnight.
“It was a marvellous experience
for all of us, and I’d volunteer to go
again on the next trip if I could,"
Mr. Sanderson said. “These kids
have been through so much pain
and suffering in their short lives
that they certainly deserve to have
one day of fun, when they can be
just like any other kid."
Thetripwas the first of its kind in
Canada, and the beginning of what
London organizers Ed and Donna
Czach hope will be many more such
outings for seriously ill children
from the London area. Last week’s
trip, which cost more than
$150,000 was entirely financed by
the U.S. division of the Sunshine
Foundation as a way of drawing
attention to its expansion into
Canada.
The Philadelphia-based non
profit organization was founded in
1976 by police constable Bill
Semple as a sort of dream factory
foi special children all over the
world - the organization learns the
dreams of such children, then sets
about making them come true. In
11 years, the Foundation has made
a gift of happiness to more than
7,500 terminally-ill or disabled
youngsters, with most of the $1
million spent annually raised
through donations from indivi
duals.
The London chapter came about
because the Czachs wanted to do
something in memory of their
15-year-oldson, Paul, whodied
just before Christmas two years
ago, from muscular dystrophy.
They wrote to Mr. Semple, who
then telephoned them tourge them
to start a London-based organiza
tion.
Mr. Semple came toOntario last
Spring to meet the Czachs and
London lawyer Norm Aitken, who
had volunteered his help, and to
persuade them that the Disney
World trip would be great publicity
for the new chapter.
London organizers put together
a board of directors, and began the
paperwork to get the group
charitable status. They approach
ed the staff of the Children's
Hospital of Western Ontario, the
Thames Valley Children’s Centre
and the Easter Seals Society to help
find children for the trip, and the
rest is history.
Ed Czach says this is not a
one-time effort. The Sunshine
Foundation of Canada has been
given six months free office space
in London, and a host of volunteers
have donated their time to keeping
the place running. The organiza
tion now has about $5,000 in its
bank account, but says it hopes to
see that turned into $500,000 a year
to make kids’ dreams come true.
Jonathan Sanderson is just one
of those children, and it is an
experience he and his family will
cherish forever. His mother,
Maria, was able to tape “every
foot” of the extensive television
coverage given to the trip, includ
ing a shot of Jon and his Dad
chatting with a clown on the plane
back to London, so the family will
be able to share the magic over and
over again.
Meanwhile, Jon is back to his old
routine, attending his Grade One
class on a fairly regular basis,
interrupted only by his few “bad
days’’ when his illness is most
persistent, or by his weekly trips to
the London clinic for chemother
apy, usually accompanied by his
mother and five-year-old brother
Anthony, who has been afflicted
with diabetes since the age of three
and one half. Their Dad goes along
when he can.
The close-knit family takes life
one day ata time, buoyed by the
loving support of family and
BY RAYMOND CANON
The Pope and I were in the
United States at the same time and
I’ll leave it to your imagination to
decide which of us got the greater
press coverage.
However, that having been said,
Icanassureyouthatlhadavery
good time which is perhaps more
than 1 can say for John Paul; he
must have been a bit depressed by
all that he heard. About the only
respite he had from all the litany of
complaints was a short trip to
Canada; he had planned to visit Ft.
Simpson the last time that he was
here but found his trip up north
cancelled due to fog. This time
around the necessary radar was in
place and so the good people of that
Arctic community were honoured
by his visit.
To put it bluntly the Americans,
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1987. PAGE 5.
Blyth’s “Sunshine Kid" Jonathan Sanderson, hugs the Disney World souvenirs he brought home for
himself and his brother after a whirlwind trip to the Florida theme park. The Grade One student was one of
205 kids taken on the tour by the international Sunshine Foundation.
friends and by their steadfast faith
inGod. Jon’sillness is in remission
now, and the next major landmark
in their lives will come in February,
when their gallant son completes
the 109 weeks of chemotherapy
prescribed by his doctors.
The International
Scene f
and to a considerable degree the
Canadiansalso, feel thatsince they
live in an advanced society and are
relatively up-to-date on religion,
they have a right to question
Catholic Dogma. The Pope's reply
to all this, and he used it over and
over again during the 10 days this
side of the ocean, was that they do
have the right to argue and discuss
all they want but, at the end of the
discussion, they must come back to
full acceptance of the established
doctrine and practice of the
Catholic Church.
What makes matters worse for
the Pope, he has toface the fact that
a great many of the North
Americans who feel that they can
question this dogma are of the
opinion as well that they can differ
in some respects and still remain a
good Catholic. This includes devi
“His doctor says that patients
undergoing this type of therapy
have a 50 per cent chance of staying
in permanent remission once the
treatment is discontinued," Mr.
Sanderson says.
“But as far as we’re concerned.
I
ating from the Church’s position on
birth control or even having an
abortion. The Pope’s reply to all
this is a resounding “No!” “Dis-
sentfrom Church doctrine remains
exactly what it is,’’ he said:
“dissent." He went out of his way
to dispel the idea that a Catholic
could choose to respect some of the
Church’s moral teaching and
disregard others and still be a good
Catholic, eligible to receive com
munion.
The Pope must know that in
many parishes, in spite of what he
said in North America and else
where, it is within the discretion of
the local priest todecide whether or
nottoadministerthesacraments to
those members who have gone
contrary to the Church’s teaching
in such matters as birth control or
divorce. Many of these same
Jon’schancesare 100 per cent. We
know that without God, he
wouldn’t be with us now; and we
know that he wouldn’t have had to
suffer all this unless he was going
to get better. ”
Pope is fighting
a losing battle
priests are applying a rather liberal
interpretation to all this but now
and again some of the clergy go a
bitfarin the eyes of the Vatican. So
it was that Archibishop Hunthau
sen of Seattle was recently stripped
of his authority over five areas of
church policy; one of these was
reportedly that of allowing too
many marriages between Catho
lics to be annulled.
However, in spite of this clamp
ing down, it appears that the Pope
might be fighting a losing battle.
Archbishop Bernardin, while he
personally sticks to the official line,
permits his priests to make many of
their own decisions as to whether,
for example, they will use altar
girls. In view of the brouhaha
which arose earlier this year in
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