A Boy’s Wish Upon A Star Comes True

Cassie Cox

Ethan McHenry is a local Greensburg boy who got the opportunity to make a wish.

McHenry, son of Jason and Lindy, is a 3-year-old with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He was born without the left side of his heart. It just never formed, his mother, Lindy McHenry, said. He was diagnosed through ultrasound while his mother was pregnant with him. The defect is a very rare heart condition that is fatal in the first week of life. McHenry had to have open heart surgery at only seven days old to save his life. He also had two more open heart surgeries at 9 months and again at 14 months. All of his treatment has been done at Riley Childrens’ Hospital.

With her son having endured so much in such a short life, McHenry’s mother sought for some piece of happiness for him. She went on the Make a Wish Foundation Website and nominated him last year. Anyone from doctors to relatives can nominate a child once they have reached two and a half years old. Lindy McHenry debated whether to wait until Ethan was a little older, but decided to go ahead and do it now. The Make a Wish Foundation contacted the McHenry family last spring. McHenry’s wish was to meet Mickey Mouse, so, along with his parents, Lindy and Jason McHenry; 11-month-old sister, Taylor; and grandmother, Cathy Hill, went to Disney World from Dec. 13 through 19 to do exactly that and more. With help from Shelbyville’s Applebees, which sponsored the trip, the family set off bound for Florida.

The McHenry family stayed at the Give Kids the World Resort, which is connected to the Make a Wish Foundation. The resort is similar to a smaller version of an amusement park, with carousels, trains that the children can drive and horses to ride. They went to Disney World for three days, Universal Studios for one day and Sea World for one day.

Every morning for two months before the family departed for Disney, Ethan would ask, “Are we meeting Mickey today?”

His original wish was to meet Mickey, but he didn’t know Mickey would be so big in person, his mother noted. McHenry said Ethan enjoyed seeing the famous mouse but said her son was apprehensive about getting too close.

“I was able to get a really good picture of Ethan walking up to Mickey, right before he screamed his head off and ran away,” she said with a laugh.

However, Ethan loved all the Playhouse Disney shows. His favorite part of Disney World was the parades. His heart condition limited the rides he could go on, but he was thrilled spinning on the famous teacups. The faster his parents made the teacup spin, the better.

Ethan even liked the plane ride to and from Disney. Then the family was treated with special care. They were escorted from the airport in a limo. The whole time they were at the various parks, they wore Make a Wish buttons to let the workers know McHenry deserved attention and the best time they could provide. They were allowed to skip to the front of the line for everything.

Now home from his Make a Wish trip, McHenry is a pretty typical 3-year-old. The only thing he can’t do is contact sports, his mother said. He likes watching Mickey Mouse movies, singing, dancing and playing in the snow. His favorite game is Candy Land.

“You wouldn’t know there was anything different about him if he had a shirt on to cover his scar,” Lindy McHenry said of her son.

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