Wishes do come true

Afflicted girl looking forward to Disney World trip

By ANNA TELATOVICH - atelatovich@sungazette.com
Lexi Opp spends most of her time taking medicine, visiting doctors and doing cyber school with her grandmother, mother or father.

But starting Sunday, 8-year-old Opp, who has a rare form of protein-deficient muscular dystrophy, will spend one week playing with Disney characters, going on rides and basking in the sun.

Like a fairytale come to life, Opp’s wish is coming true through the Make-a-Wish Foundation, with a visit for seven family members to Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida.

“I want to see all the characters,” Opp said while sitting in her living room, playing with a princess wand and tiara given to her by Make-A-Wish.

“This is something that we wouldn’t be able to do without Make-A-Wish,” Opp’s mother, DeShawna Kula of Dewart, said.

Kula applied for the program online. She said the process of being granted a trip only took a few months.

“It wasn’t very long at all,” she said. “We’ve been a year in the making, mainly because we wanted to hold off until after cold and flu season to be able to travel with her.”

Opp has a poor immune system that makes traveling scary and keeps her from attending public school. She takes courses online, taught by her grandmother or one of her parents.

“Math, reading, writing, sometimes science, social studies, sometimes art and sometimes poetry,” are the lessons Opp said she takes daily. Her favorite is art and her least favorite is reading, she said.

When she isn’t learning or playing, Opp balances seven medications, five medical specialists and deals with her nightly feeding tube, which helps her take in nutrients.

Packing a week’s worth of medication and “night feeds” is a daunting task, Kula said. But Opp already has visited her doctors to make sure she is in peak-traveling condition.

Despite the OK to travel, Kula still is a little nervous about the trip.

“On the plane, she can’t sit in her wheelchair, so we’re going to have to physically carry her onto the plane and get her situated in the seat,” she said.

Opp’s physical position leaves her leaning forward at all times, which might pose as a safety issue on the plane, Kula said.

A year ago at this time, Opp said she wouldn’t have believed she’d be going on vacation now.

“Last year at this time, we spent three weeks in the hospital and never got outside,” Opp’s grandmother, Linda Losch, said.

Opp’s family will stay at the Give Kids the World Village, a colorful resort for families of terminally ill children.

They’ve also been reserved a handicap-accessible van, a luxury they do not have at home.

Opp said she is thankful her entire family will go —which includes her brother, sister, two stepbrothers, mother and her father, Richard Opp of Muncy and his fiance.

“Thank you, everybody at Make-A-Wish,” Opp said.