A YOUNG Tralee woman enjoyed the trip of a lifetime last week when she flew with her family to New York courtesy of the Make A Wish Foundation.
Abbie O’Sullivan, from Ballyseedy, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes four years ago and the 16 year old Mercy Mounthawk student has a tough time with the condition. Her mum Julie explained.
“The condition has turned her life upside down, she’s on six injections a day and there’s a lot of complications with that type of diabetes. Those injections keep her alive every day, if didn’t have them she’d become violently sick and could go into a coma and die,” said Julie.
“The nurses at the hospital told me about Make A Wish two years ago when Abbie was going through a very hard time. So I put her name forward for it 18 months ago. They weren’t promising anything, but if there was something they could do they’d be in touch,” said Julie.
“They contacted us within the year and said whatever Abbie’s wish was, they’d sort it out. It’s always been Abbie’s dream to go to shopping in New York. I honestly didn’t think they’d be able to afford it, but they got back to us and said if that’s her wish they’d grant it. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard it,” said Julie.
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Abbie flew out with her parents Julie and Connie and brother Neil on Thursday last, for a five day trip and were met in New York by the ‘Make A Wish US’ team.
They stayed in a beautiful mid-town Manhattan hotel, two blocks from Times Square. They got passes for the Empire State Building, the ferry around Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty and Abbie got a $1,000 to spend.
This was put to good use on the Saturday, the ‘Make A Wish Day’, when they were picked up by Limousine from the hotel and taken to Sephora make-up store where Abbie got a full makeover and was treated like a princess for the day.
“She got a load of free cosmetics to bring home too. The limo dropped us from shop to shop all day. It really was fantastic to see her so happy, it’s just what she needed,” said Julie.
“I can’t thank Make A Wish enough for what they’ve done for Abbie, they couldn’t do enough for us. They really went out of their way, it was just unbelievable. I would love to see another family who needs it, get the treatment we got,” said Julie.
