Novi schools make wishes of chronically ill children come true

NOVI — The Novi Community School District came together during Wish Week at the schools March 12-15 to help make the wishes of two chronically ill children come true.

The money raised during Wish Week, often through the purchase of $1 paper stars, will fund an all-expenses-paid trip for each child and their family to go to Walt Disney World through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“They’ve granted a wish of a lifetime, basically, for him to get to go to Disney and have the ultimate Disney experience,” said Heather Trammell, whose son, Charlie, is one of the recipients.

Six-year-old Charlie Trammell, of Livonia, has cystic fibrosis, which is a genetic disorder that affects breathing and digestion. As a result of the disease, he has been hospitalized many times during his six years.

He spent eight weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit when he was born, and he underwent major surgery at 2 days old. As a result of cystic fibrosis, he is also pancreatic insufficient, so he has to take enzymes when he eats, and he also does breathing treatments twice a day, or four times, if he is sick. In January, he celebrated his birthday in the hospital with a lung infection that turned into pneumonia due to CF.

“He’s resilient, though. CF is tough. It’s not an easy disease. It’s an invisible disease. When you look at him, you’d never know he has it, but CF is cruel. It takes away a lot of the freedoms of being a kid,” Heather Trammell said. “He’s strapped to a vest twice a day. It’s an hour of breathing treatments twice a day at 6 years old.”

Despite the challenges, Charlie doesn’t let CF get him down.

“It takes a lot of his time, but he looks at it like it’s a badge of honor. He’s proud to have it. He never lets it slow him down. He never uses it as an excuse. My husband and I say it doesn’t define him. It’s what he has. It’s not who he is, but it defines us as parents, if that makes any sense,” Heather Trammell said. “But he’s amazing. He’s resilient. He’s pure joy, so in spite of having a disease that’s evil at its core, he’s pretty incredible.”

Like many children, Charlie, a kindergartener at Roosevelt Elementary School in Livonia, has an obsession with Disney. His mother said that he has loved Disney since he was “itty-bitty” and his room has “Mickey vibes.” Now that he is slightly older, he is into watching YouTube videos about Walt Disney World and the rides.

In order to fund the Trammell family’s trip to Disney and that of one other family whose child is chronically ill, students in the Novi Community School District held various fundraising activities over the course of a week to raise $20,000, as each trip is estimated to cost $10,000. The weeklong trips include everything from airfare, hotel accommodations and park entry fees to Park Hopper passes to allow them to go between the various Disney theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

“I think that it’s incredible,” Heather Trammell said of the gesture by Novi Community School District. “I think that it’s a bunch of young kids and teachers giving back to a really worthy cause, and I think that at that age doing fundraising or charity work like that is commendable. It’s noble.”

The school has been working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation for at least five or six years. However, this is the first year the district has sponsored two students, and it was also the first year that the entire district was involved in some way, from the high school all the way down to the elementary schools.

Leading up to Wish Week, the students started their campaign by selling T-shirts. Then, for Wish Week, the students could participate in different activities each day for a nominal fee to go toward the cause. Activities at Novi High School during the week included skipping first hour March 12 to have a pancake breakfast and a concert during third hour March 13 featuring the NHS dance team and the Major VI a cappella choir.

They also had “coin stalls” during their longest class period — fourth hour — March 13. Most classes are 45 minutes, but the fourth hour occurs while other kids are having their lunch, so it is a full 60 minutes. During coin stalls, students were able to bring in change for the teacher to count. The class couldn’t begin until the teacher had finished counting the change, which all went to the cause.   

“I had one teacher call me during fifth period and say, ‘Can I stop counting now?’ as they had so much change,” recalled Katie James, one of the instructors who oversees the student council, which is in charge of the Make-A-Wish campaign.

They held a students vs. staff basketball game Friday, March 15, in which Charlie was the guest of honor. James said the game was a real nail-biter, but the staff won by a score of 46-44, with a basket made in the last four seconds of the game.

“It teaches them about a community beyond the walls of the building,” said James. “They get really into it. We always feed into the competitive nature of students by making some of the events, like the Wish Week stars, competitive. Then on Friday when Charlie came and spoke, they were so supportive and sweet to him, and it was really, really nice to see all of them see the direct impact that they will have.”

The Trammell family will be going to Disney in May, and Charlie is super excited for the trip, according to his mom. The name of the other child was not made public.