Readers’ Favorite

A five-year-old boy saves Christmas from the dark side No doubt, the security guards at Children’s Mercy Hospital have seen a lot of strange things. But never had they witnessed a Christmas Eve visitors’ list like this. Some might call it the not-so-silent night of Holy Superheroes, Batman! all for one special little boy. That […]

A brilliant young girl helps inspire a new generation Seated at the head table in the Kauffman Foundation’s conference center, 17-year-old Hope Corwin finally understood her Christmas gift. There she was, one of 209 high school girls at the Hope Summit, listening to superstar scientists, mathematicians, engineers and entrepreneurs. All the speakers were women. Women

Top chefs prepare meal for a young foodie weathering a lifetime of illness They wanted to create a magical meal he and his family would remember. On Christmas Eve, four of Kansas City’s finest chefs gathered in a secret underground Elf Testing Kitchen in the Crossroads. It was a special Christmas present for 20-year-old foodie

All a nine-year-old boy suffering from cancer wanted for Christmas was snow When the chemo started and nurses told 9-year-old Mason Kempf to think of something happy, he thought about snow. Even though the outside breezes were soft and warm and the tree’s leaves green as he lay this summer in the hospital bed at

She sobbed at night, too angry to pray. But a gift from strangers gave her a new outlook. She was so mad at God, Datha Jackson had stopped praying to him. In July, her 15-year-old daughter, Heather Tice, was in a car crash and was rushed to St. Lukeʼs Hospital. Heather was a passenger in

Stricken by cancer, dancer sees dream come to life Ally Woodbury knew something was up Saturday when her mother took her shopping for a ball gown. A gown to make Ally feel “like a princess,” her mom said. After asking “Why?” a dozen times, Ally just accepted it. Struggling with cancer, she has learned to

A boy suffering from cancer wants to complete what he began before…. Leslee Slinger knew this Christmas Eve would be the best ever: Her big brother was home. This would be the first holiday that Derek Slinger, 18, would not spend in a hospital since he was diagnosed with cancer almost a year and a

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