Dressed for Halloween in his green dinosaur costume and matching beanie, Liam Lamb, 5, waited at the end of his driveway Thursday in Starkville.
“There they come!” he shouted excitedly after a few minutes.
Rounding the curve of his street was a green van decorated to look like a jungle and hauling a trailer from which two seniors from Heritage Academy, clad in inflatable dinosaur suits, waved as they passed to Liam and his sister, Eden Della Lamb, 3. Following behind were three more vehicles and a crowd of more than 40 Heritage seniors all dressed in their Halloween costumes, waving and, in many cases, holding hand-drawn signs that said things like “Disney Bound” and “You’re Dino-mite.” As they passed Liam’s mailbox, they dropped candy and other treats for Liam and Eden Della to gather.
“We’ve been talking about ‘Parade Day’ for a while,” said Liam’s mother, Ann Elizabeth Lamb.
Parade Day was a special event from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which the seniors at Heritage took on as a class project. The students raised nearly $10,000 for Make-A-Wish Mississippi, some of which will go to Liam’s family to help send him to Disney World.
“We had a goal of $10,000, and everybody would break it down to where each person would raise $250 and we could reach our goal really fast,” Student Government Association president McKenzie Rhett said before the parade started. “So, really, all you do is go out in the community and ask anyone for a donation of even $5 to 10, because anything makes a difference. We have almost reached our $10,000 goal — we’re still working on it now — and that goes to more Make-A-Wish kids around Mississippi.”
Make-A-Wish is a national nonprofit that raises money to grant a wish for ill children. Liam was diagnosed at age 3 with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a disease that shut down his kidneys and damaged several other organs, leading to emergency surgery in which part of his colon was removed.
“He was in the hospital for 84 days when he was 3 1/2,” Ann Elizabeth said. “He spent from May until August in the hospital dealing with this and lost a lot of his strength. He couldn’t even hold his head up at one point. It’s amazing how much muscle structure we gain at this age, just from playing. Since he wasn’t able to do that, he didn’t have any structure.”
With physical therapy, dialysis and his father Michael eventually donating part of his kidney to Liam in May 2019, “he is doing great,” Ann Elizabeth said.
Liam is still immunocompromised and homeschooled along with Eden Della. He was supposed to have gone on his Make-A-Wish Disney World trip on Halloween, his favorite holiday, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the Heritage seniors were determined to make the day special anyway, with Disney-themed signs on the decorated vehicles, many of the students dressed as Disney characters and Carly Martin, 17, showing him a special sign that said “Disney Bound.”
“During this time it’s really hard to do a bunch of stuff because of COVID,” Martin said. “You don’t want to get him sick, and you don’t want to get us sick. It’s just cool that they let us come and let us have the opportunity to walk by and say ‘Hey’ to him and wish him a Happy Halloween.”
Make-A-Wish volunteers also worked with the sorority Chi Omega Phi Delta at Mississippi State University to throw a “wish reveal” Thursday night for Jade Roberts, 16, of Starkville, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May 2018.
Roberts’ wish was to go on the shopping spree, which Make-A-Wish Mississippi board member, Craig Peterhansen, of Starkville, said the Chi O’s were happy to make happen.
“These courageous kids are amazing,” he said. “… We get to bring a little bit of good and happy in a time that’s challenging for them.”
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