Tuesday, July 6, 2010 • Make-a-Wish Foundation sends Janesville girl to Florida

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, July 6, 2010 edition of the Lassen County Times.

A Janesville girl hoping her cancer won’t return is headed for Disney World in Orlando, Florida, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Two Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteers visited the family of Tailor Osborne, 12, at Janesville Park on Saturday, June 26 to deliver her wish to visit Disney World and make it become a reality.

Tailor was joined by dozens of family and friends for a picnic in the park that featured lots of balloons, gifts, pizza, cakes and plenty of laughs and smiles.

Tailor and her family plan to fly to Florida and visit Disney World July 6-13. Volunteers Teresa Kahl and Diane Bitsko said it generally costs about $5,000 to grant a child’s wish — and all that money comes from donations. They thanked everyone who has made a donation to the foundation for their generous support.

Tailor was born in Bieber and is the second girl from that area in the past 25 years to contract Rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of cancer her father, Jamie Osborne, said normally affects boys.

According to acor.org, “Rhabdomyosarcoma is a fast-growing, highly malignant tumor that accounts for over half of the soft tissue sarcomas in children.

“Rhabdomyosarcoma tumors arise from a cell called a rhabdomyoblast, which is a primitive muscle cell. Instead of differentiating into striated muscle cells, the rhabdomyoblasts grow out of control. Since this type of muscle is located throughout the body, the tumors can appear at numerous locations.”

Jamie said Tailor was diagnosed with the disease when she was 18 months old. Doctors first battled the disease with radiation and chemotherapy until she was about 5.

Then she had surgery to remove a tumor from her abdomen, and since then the disease appears to be in remission — her dad says Tailor feels OK, and so far the tumor has not returned.

During her chemotherapy treatments, one of Tailor’s aunts donated her hair to the Locks of Love to make a wig for Tailor. But Jamie said Tailor gave the wig to another girl in the cancer ward because the other girl didn’t have any hair either. Jamie said his daughter is simply that kind of person.

The proud father said his daughter is a happy and cheerful child, and he wants her to enjoy being a 12-year-old for as long as she can despite the possibility the cancer may return.

The bad news is, “If it comes back, it will kill her,” Jamie said. “It’s pretty much a bad deal.”

Surrounded by friends and family at Janesville Park, Tailor opened a number of presents and received a Make-A-Wish visor and backpack from the foundation as well as other gifts.  Most of those in attendance also signed a big card for her to wish her well.

Jamie said Bullseye Recycling, Buffalo Chips Pizza, Safeway, Fred and Rhonda Malley, Susanville Supermarket, The Mark, Heard’s Market, Honey Lake Feed, Phil and Erica Gowsti, the Pizza Factory, Jess Viconda, Barbara Rausch, Cary Ehrlich and Tim Perry also contributed to the party at Janesville Park.

Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has enriched the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. The foundation’s mission reflects the life-changing impact that a Make-A-Wish experience has on children, families, referral sources, donors, sponsors and entire communities.

Bitsko said the foundation will send a limousine to the airport in Florida to pick the family up and take them to their hotel. Volunteers from the foundation also will accompany the family during its visit to Disney World.

“There’s always somebody there taking care of them,” Bitsko said.