A hospital-bound boy wants to go to the movies, but the hospital says No! The mission: Get Zachary Marion, 11, out of Children’s Mercy Hospital for a few hours on Friday. The destination: The AMC movie theater on Ward Parkway. The goal: Watch the hit computer animated movie “The Incredibles.” Status: Mission accomplished. “We called […]
In the twinkle of an eye, a sick boy’s acorn becomes a mighty oak Chief Elf slouches at his desk, a blitz of yellow sticky notes circling his computer screen like a wreath. At Elf Central, all is quiet at 2 a.m. But with just one week to go before Christmas 2002, all is not
Two single moms with disabled children receive gifts to improve their lives Some Christmas stories do have happy endings. Nubia Cardenas and Allison Adams are two of them from the annals of the holiday diary of a special group of elves from Olathe. Both women are single mothers with disabled children. Cardenas, 19, Kansas City,
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A soldier goes to war knowing he will not come back Wellsville. Kan — Jim Butler hasn’t slept well since his son left for the war. His wife, Cindy, has gone to bed. Hours of watching television for news about the war gave her a headache. But in a familiar ritual, she has perched a
A family enduring medical tragedies receives a gift of love Avery Noelle Hotchkiss of Gardner will be able to read about her first Noel. A 6-year-old Olathe boy delivered a special book to the Gardner 3-month-old. Wearing a velvet green stocking cap with a silver tag identifying him as a “Rookie Elf,” he quickly climbed
“Where did this come from?” Melanie Monroe cried as her husband, Paul, wheeled her up the new ramp. Then her eyes followed the ramp. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh…Oh!…Oh! This…this is so wonderful….Is this really my house?” Tears. Tears of joy. Tears from months of pain. Tears from an accident that burned her critically,
Taking flight with Santa, a little boy soars above sorrow In the early weeks of December, there were good days for Hannah Saulsbury. Days when she could play like any other toddler. Days when she asked to have her fingernails painted with polish. Days when the 3 year-old didn’t feel the pain — the “owies,”
A family in the midst of tragedy is reminded of the real meaning of Christmas Perry Bice turns off the van’s engine but remains behind the wheel. His shoulders begin racking with sobs. The van doors swing open and two children scramble out. “Why is my daddy crying?” asks 9-year-old Branson Bice. Parked in the
It was the night before Christmas Christmas 1998. Josh Bailey, 10, stared in awe at the stairwell leading up to his bedroom. When he, his brother, Jake, 5, and his sister, Miriah, 4, left hours earlier, on Christmas Eve, their two-story duplex had only two bedrooms, both on the first floor. Now, 540 minutes later
Elves move mountains for a boy with a brain tumor There’s something about mountains, he told his mom. Michael McMahan, 10, kept asking about the colors of mountains: the blues, the browns, the purple majesties. He stared for hours at pictures of mountains. Why does a child growing up in Kansas obsess about mountains? A
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