In late 2001, 3-year-old Alyssa Pietruszka was ready for her big trip to Disney World. She had dreamed of meeting all the Disney princesses and being one herself, so the visit was a wish come true. The only problem was her mom, Taresa, wasn’t ready to go.
That summer, Alyssa had been diagnosed with a stage III Wilms tumor, an aggressive form of kidney cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes and other parts of her body. After months of chemotherapy and radiation without response, her doctors recommended that she be placed in hospice care. They also connected Taresa with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to plan Alyssa’s dream vacation.
“My mom was not necessarily convinced,” Alyssa says. “She didn’t want to go on the trip because that meant I was dying. So, it took a while for her to come to terms and say, ‘Let’s go.’”
The Pietruszkas traveled from their home in Milwaukee to Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, Florida, an 89-acre nonprofit resort designed specifically for critically ill children and their families on weeklong wish vacations. On her first day there, Alyssa was still lethargic from her treatments. She was frail, hadn’t been out of bed in weeks and barely ate.
But over the following days, her family watched as Alyssa turned a corner. She ate bacon for the first time, walked around the Village and felt her sense of joy return.
“We tried to stay on property because I was in hospice, and they truly made me feel like a living princess,” Alyssa says. “I remember going on carousel rides, having ice cream for breakfast, having Christmas on the property for what could’ve been the last time. I think it truly brought me back to life and inspired hope for my family as well.”
When she returned to Milwaukee, Alyssa’s doctors found her tumor had inexplicably begun to shrink. They recommended one more round of chemotherapy, and her body began to respond to the treatment for the first time. The next year, at 4 years old, Alyssa was proclaimed cancer-free.
“The doctors said it was a miracle, but I told them it was magic medicine,” Alyssa says. “They just needed to take the children to experience the magic of Give Kids the World.”
One Wish
Give Kids the World was established in 1986 after hotel owner Henri Landwirth was asked to provide a complimentary stay for a young girl with leukemia who wished to visit Orlando’s theme parks. While Henri was happy to do so, the rest of the girl’s travel plans took too long to arrange before she died. Henri and his wife, Pam, set out to ensure that never happened again.
“We made a promise at the very beginning that we would never turn down a child whose wish was to come to central Florida,” says Pam, who has served as Give Kids the World president and CEO since 1995. “We realized that we only get one chance with these families because you only get one wish.”
Depending on their health, some children who visit may not be able to go to the parks as much as they would like. So, Give Kids the World Village offers accessible rides, attractions and activities across its resort to ensure no child feels like they’re missing out.
Stephanie Schweigert remembers the events at the Village being the highlight of the trip when her family took a wish vacation in February 2021 for her daughter Gabby, who has spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Gabby, along with her twin sister, Jazzy, and younger sister, Elsa, loved the parks but couldn’t get enough of the weekly Halloween, Christmas and birthday parties at the Village.
“Gabby often says her brain works the best when she’s at the Village, and I can see that,” Stephanie says. “I can see her come to life. She always says she loves the village so much because it’s the one place your family can just be together with no distractions and have fun together. I think that’s so meaningful coming from a kid.”
The Human Element
For RoxAnn Noorlander, the magic of Give Kids the World is in its people. In April 2020, her son Paul was recovering from a bone marrow transplant. While planning his Make-A-Wish trip, RoxAnn saw a story about the Night of a Million Lights event at the Village but knew the crowds wouldn’t be safe for her son. After a few phone calls, staff at the Village arranged for Paul to experience the holiday light display with no one else around.
“We went in before it was open to the public,” RoxAnn says. “We were just walking around, and that was the first time Paul was able to be out in public without an issue. They let people operate the rides for him. They brought people in to give us the tour and everything else. That was very special. Paul didn’t want to leave.”
Afterward, Paul told his mom he wanted to volunteer at the Village when he was old enough. RoxAnn, Paul and his sister, Amanda, are now just a few of the approximately 1,800 volunteers each week that keep Give Kids the World running.Those volunteers might serve sundaes at Henri’s Starlight Scoops, which serves ice cream all day, operate rides or help run the parties Give Kids the World throws every night.
Amanda Noorlander regularly acts as an American Sign Language interpreter for performances at the Village, but RoxAnn’s favorite part has always been meeting other families working through experiences similar to those of her family.
“Going through that, you want someone who has gone down your road before,” she says. “You look for that to tell yourself everything is OK. I can tell when a child is still in treatment, so I make sure I talk to the parents. I like being that person to let them know it’s a tough road and it stinks, but it can be OK.”
A Magical Place
Since her recovery, Alyssa has formed a close relationship with Pam and has become a vocal proponent of the hope Give Kids the World offers to children and their families. Now that she has graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Alyssa plans to pursue a career in hospitality with the goal of returning to Give Kids the World full time.
She isn’t the only one who has felt drawn back to the Village. The Schweigert family loved Florida and the resort so much that they moved to Orlando from their home in Minnesota just months after their visit. Today, Stephanie works as airport coordinator for Give Kids the World. The year after their visit, RoxAnn and her family moved to Oviedo, Florida, where they have been able to put in more than 200 volunteer hours at the Village.
“When you volunteer at Give Kids the World, you give a piece of yourself, but you get a lot back,” RoxAnn says. “There are kids that are going through treatments or going on their Make-A-Wish trips. They come to the Village and don’t have to worry about anything.”
And because alumni families are welcome to visit the Village twice a year, the Village has become a tradition for many families looking to recapture the magic of their first trip.
“I love the fact that they will always welcome people back,” Stephanie says. “My twins always choose their birthdays to come back. It’s just such a good community to be around, and you feel like another family when you’re at the Village. You don’t feel secluded in any way.”
One of the favorite venues for everyone who visits Give Kids the World Village is the Castle of Miracles. The ever-popular Enchanted Carousel is right outside near a “magic” tree, and a friendly guard named Rusty keeps watch. But the real draw is the more than 188,000 stars that adorn the ceiling inside, each personalized by a wish child who made their own trip to the Village.
“Every time I walk in there, I have to get a tissue out because of what every single one of those stars represents,” Stephanie says. “It hits a spot deep in the soul for every parent out there and makes you remember you’re not alone in this struggle. There are a lot of families out there like yours.”