Credit: DisneyA young girl’s dream of visiting Disneyland Resort may come true very soon, thanks to an unconventional group of blue fairies.
Local Police in Avondale, Arizona, is currently holding a fundraiser to take a young girl known as Ana to the Happiest Place on Earth before she completely loses her sight.
As reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, Ana’s story began a few years ago when she was rescued from a situation that was far from a fairytale.
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“There was a vehicle that was underneath some trees, so we went out and make sure,” said Beau Wagner, a K-9 handler with Avondale Police. “It was probably July. It was real hot. As we approached the vehicle, there was a female outside, and when we looked inside the vehicle, there were four kids.” Ana was among those four kids. “They were soiled, they were sweating profusely,” added Wagner.
While the incident that led to Ana’s rescue was not detailed, authorities stated that Ana’s biological mother was drug-dependent and unable to care for her children, which sparked a child neglect investigation, taking the child’s custody from her.
Ana was later adopted by Marcela Ochoa, who says her daughter loves her officer friends. “Avondale has essentially been there from the very beginning,” said Ochoa. “They’ve been amazing with her.”
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Unfortunately, Ana was diagnosed with several disabilities, including being hard of hearing. In 2020, doctors also diagnosed Ana with Usher’s Syndrome. Per the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health:
What is Usher syndrome?
Usher syndrome is a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision. It causes deafness or hearing loss and an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Sometimes, it also causes problems with balance.
People who have Usher syndrome are born with it, but they usually get diagnosed as children or teenagers. There’s no cure for Usher syndrome, but treatments can help people manage their vision, hearing, and balance problems — so it’s important to talk to your child’s doctor right away if you notice symptoms.
“Eventually, it will take almost all of her vision,” said Ana’s mother. “It is a race against time. We don’t know when it will happen, we just know it will happen no matter what.”
This caused the Avondale Police to take the role of fairy godmother to grant Ana her wish and the trip of a lifetime.
“One of the suggestions that was brought up was ‘hey, let’s do a fundraiser for her so she can go to Disneyland with her family, and experience that before losing her vision,’” said Marcus Patterson.
The online fundraiser was set up on August 23, 2022, and as of this article’s publishing, $13,800 of the $15,000 goal had been raised to grant Ana’s wish. If you want to support this cause, you can click here to donate to Ana’s Disneyland getaway.
“Ana has just been family since day one,” said Officer Joseph Turitto with Avondale Police.
What do you think of this heartwarming effort? Let us know in the comments below!
