Everyone who knows 4-year-old Caroline calls her “Super C.” That’s because she seemed to defy all the medical odds with a smile. When she got a chance to make her heartfelt wish come true, Caroline decided to go where everyone smiles as much as she does — Walt Disney World® Resort.

Born prematurely, Caroline faced medical challenges from day one. When she was 3, doctors diagnosed her with a unique form of leukodystrophy, a neurodegenerative disorder causing seizures.

According to Caroline’s mom, Abigail, the opportunity to have a wish came at the perfect time. “[Having a wish] meant that our whole family got to be part of something so amazing,” she said. “It meant a carefree week together that I don’t think we’ve ever had.”

Wish granters from the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of North Dakota were thrilled to make Super C’s wish come true. With their help, Caroline, her parents, her two older brothers and her younger sister were all on a plane bound for Orlando. The Foundation even arranged for Caroline’s nurse, Mindy, to come along.

Caroline felt right at home at Give Kids the World Village, where her family stayed in a villa arranged especially for them. They all enjoyed heaping ice cream sundaes at the village’s free ice cream palace, and Caroline was thrilled to discover that the village pool offered a special wheel chair that she could “swim” in, allowing her the rare chance to play in the pool with her brothers and sisters.

As Caroline’s mom, Abigail, wrote in her blog, “[Caroline] rolled all around the splash park in it, getting her toes sprayed with water and giggling with the pure joy of a child that was meant to be in water…She is nothing but smiles from morning to night!”

The next day, Caroline and her family were off to Disney’s Magic Kingdom® where they made a beeline for the famous teacups ride. “I cannot even tell you how much Caroline loved the teacups!” Abigail wrote. “She kept saying again, again!”

Caroline and her happy group laughed their way through many of the other classic Disney rides. For lunch they gobbled foot-long hotdogs and french fries, which Caroline shared with a duck that wandered up close to her; ducks have always been one of Caroline’s

favorite animals.

And no visit to the Walt Disney World Resort would be complete without pictures with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the rest of the Toontown gang. When Donald Duck learned that Caroline was a huge fan of ducks, he signed her ”I Love Ducks” bag.

The rest of Caroline’s wish week was jam packed with adventures. She visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Park, and enjoyed VIP treatment at SeaWorld, where – much to her delight –a dolphin jumped out of the water to greet her and let her pet it. More splashing was in store for her at the beach, where she and her mom wrote the words “Make-A-Wish” in the sand. Caroline even celebrated “Christmas” (a weekly affaire at Give Kids the World Village) and sat on Santa’s lap.

When Caroline and her family finally returned home, they brought priceless family memories with them. And as for the little girl who was known for bringing smiles to everyone around her, her mom Abigail said, “I haven’t seen her smile that much for that long in a very long time, if ever.”

By Kathryn Roethel