ISD Student Gets His Dream
Little Blue Elementary student Nick Tharp recently returned from his dream vacation on a Disney Cruise. Nick learned he was going on the trip just three days before he left. He received the incredible news at the Dream Factory Gala in June. His mom Cori says, “He loved it. He got to meet all of his favorite characters and hugged them all. He especially loved the Mickey Mouse slide because he could do it all by himself.”
Nick was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy when he was just a year old. His mom says he was about 7 months old when she and husband Dennis thought there might be something different about their little boy. Cori says, “We said he was a floppy baby. He was always happy but he just sort-of watched the world.” She says they spoke with their pediatrician and numerous doctors who thought he might have autism. They tried First Steps and physical therapy. The Tharp’s pushed for answers and before he turned two years old, Nick was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Duchenne MD is a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. His doctor says he was the youngest child in the country to be officially diagnosed. Cori says, “After a lot of crying, we decided to get to work. We knew we needed to do something.”
Nick is now 9 years old. He is part of the school family at Little Blue Elementary in the Independence School District where he is in the Functional Skills program. He is involved in an FDA study and his family is eagerly awaiting study results.
And back to that Disney Cruise. His mom says he doesn’t really understand exactly why he got to go on the trip. But he sure enjoyed five days of Disney magic. A dream come true for the 4th grader who was surprised this summer by the wonderful folks at the Dream Factory who turned his dream into a reality.
