FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A 9-year-old with several serious illnesses is in South Florida, getting to live out some of his wishes.
The Sweeney family traveled to the Everglades all the way from Ohio with their son Noah. A huge smile beamed from Noah’s face as he and his family ventured into the Everglades on a boat.
The Kids Wish Network makes dreams come true for children with life-threatening illnesses and sent Noah and his family on the trip.
“He does have over 20 diagnoses,” Noah’s mother, Susan said.
Noah has a blood disorder and colonic dysmotility, which means muscles in his digestive system don’t operate properly.
“He had a foot of his colon removed in October,” Susan said. “This is the second ostomy, and it’s still not working at 100 percent right now, so we’re looking at a future surgery.”
This is just one in a series of diagnoses and misdiagnoses for Noah.
“In the beginning it was a brain injury from birth — he had an emergency C-section, and it kind of spiraled from there,” Susan said.
But the family is taking a break from doctors and hospitals, spending the week in South Florida and seeing birds and alligators.
They’re staying at the Weston Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, and on Wednesday, Noah got quite the surprise.
“I got a dolphin,” Noah said. “I got a dolphin.”
He is now the proud adopted parent of a spotted Atlantic dolphin named Prince William.
“It’s somewhere in the Bahamas, so I don’t know [if I’ll meet it],” Noah said.
Noah and his family will also visit the Miami Seaquarium to swim with the dolphins this week.
“I used to say that everything can be cured, but I know that that’s not possible,” Susan said, “so now I just say that he can just be happy and stable and him be as happy as can be.”
Asked what his wish is, Noah said, “That all my medical stuff will get better.”
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