A six-year-old North Texas boy battling cancer is getting a second chance at life and the opportunity to go on a dream trip to Disney World.
Thiago Hernandez underwent a bone marrow transplant, thanks to a donor. And now a nonprofit based in California is raising donations to help him make the trip to Disney. This week, the family learned their fundraising goal has been met and donor's raised $5,000 to send the family on the trip.
Thiago's mother, Laura Hernandez told NBC 5 that her son wants to be a pilot when he grows up and that he loves to travel. But since being diagnosed with Leukemia a year ago, he only takes trips to the hospital.
"Thiago is not able to do as much things or other things that any other six-year-old boy is able to do at his age. He is not allowed to go to a school physically. He's not doing sports," Laura Hernandez said.
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Laura started sharing her son's journey on Instagram and created a page called Handsome_Thiago.
"He's known by being handsome at the hospital and dressing up handsome for his appointments," she said.
Online, she found a supportive community of families with kids with cancer and started following the campaigns for the nonprofit, One At A Time. The California-based nonprofit raises money, awareness and resources to do good deeds for kids battling severe illness.
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OOAT selected Thiago for their January campaign and are raising $5,000 dollars to send him to Disney World. Laura says they can take the trip whenever they feel he's feeling well enough.
"I'm excited because Disney World. It's going to be so much fun to go," said Thiago.
It'll be a chance for the family to make memories, something they don't take for granted.
"You just never know, what's gonna happen within a week, within a month, you know? So it's being able to just kind of like, feel normal, have fun, see him smile," said Laura Hernandez.
The family is also spreading awareness about the need for bone marrow and blood donors. On January 22, they'll mark a major milestone and celebrate 100 days since Thiago's bone marrow transplant.
You can learn more about their mission and the fundraiser for the trip here. Now that they've met the goal to send Thiago to Disney, OOAT is working on fundraising to fund a dream for another child with a severe illness.
