Foundation grants wish
Loretta meets Mickey and Minnie

by Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 22/97) - Rae's Loretta Smith turns 15 later this year. But her life is not like most almost 15-year-olds.

She suffers from Lawrence Moon Beidel Syndrome, (kidney failure) and requires dialysis.

Her wish was to go to Disneyland.

Enter the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada.

Loretta, her parents, two brothers and two of her five sisters, visited Disneyland and other attractions in California in June.

The foundation grants wishes to children suffering from high-risk, life-threatening illnesses.

As keepsakes of her Disneyland trip, Loretta has a big stuffed Minnie Mouse doll and a photo album she keeps in her room at Stanton Regional Hospital.

"I went on scary rides," she said.

She brought back memories of Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, a host of the Disney characters, a limousine ride and a medieval feast.

Loretta and her family also visited Universal Studios and took in the movie rides Back to the Future, Dantes peak, Waterworld and Jurassic Park.

Her wish was a popular one, the foundation's Alberta and NWT director, Alice Mercer, said.

"About 75 percent of our wishes are for trips to Disneyland."

Mercer, working on her 216th wish, was in the North last week visiting various communities.

Proceeds from a Lutselk'e caribou dinner were donated to the foundation.

Nationally, the foundation just granted its 5,000th wish.

A wish has never been refused, Mercer said.

For the year ending March 31, 1997, the foundation granted wishes worth almost $350,000.