Help Kiley's Christmas Wish Come True

Kiley McDonnell is 20 years old and has had one lifelong dream: to get to Disney World and experience the Magic Kingdom. Kiley is the biggest Disney fan you’ve ever met! Her entire room is covered with all of her favorite characters! She has surpassed unbelievable odds to be here with us every day of her life. She is the bravest person I’ve ever met and I am honored to call her my friend. Kiley was born with a genetic mutation that presented when she was a baby, called Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1, also known as Werdnig-Hoffman disease.

It is a degenerative and cruel condition, diagnosed in the first 6 months of life. Kiley is on a ventilator to breathe; she has 24/7 Registered Nurse respiratory care and a constant IV for hydration and nutrition to stay alive. They average life expectancy of a person diagnosed with SMA Type 1 is 2 years. Kiley McDonnell is no average person, she has survived and thrived for 20 years!

This May she will be 21 years old, beating every medical odd against her. However, her condition does not define her. That’s because Kiley is made of something that not everyone was born with: true grit and true love. Thankfully, she is not alone in her journey. She has the most devoted Dad, a team of dedicated nurses, her adoring siblings, her amazing grandparents, and a squad of friends and teachers at The Henry Viscardi School, not to mention the legion of supporters and admirers she had gathered over her years. Some people may say she is like the Taylor Swift of SMA Type 1. You simply cannot meet her and not instantly become a Kiley fan. She is simply the most inspiring person you’ve ever met.

This past March 2024, Kiley had spinal surgery with the hope of relieving some of her escalating and severe physical pain. Sadly, the surgery was not as successful as the doctors had hoped. Almost 8 months later, she is still in debilitating pain from not only the SMA Type 1, but now the remaining wounds from the effects of the surgery. Kiley is still receiving critical wound care for the surgical incision sites that became infected. Instead of helping to reduce her pain, this surgery caused further prolonged physical agony. She has survived all of this pain and used every bit of her inner strength to wake up and fight for her existence every single day.

Kiley is the strongest person I’ve ever met. She gathers so much courage from Disney movies, stories and characters that she interacts with daily through various forms of media. Kiley has the magical ability to communicate with us through her one finger on her computer mouse to text, post on Facebook, listen to music, watch movies and read her favorite stories. She is a very talented writer and truly has a way with words. She may not speak aloud, but her words and her voice are communicating clear as a bell through the gift of technology. She is clever, funny, deeply caring and absolutely lives for anything Disney. Kiley deserves to celebrate her life and accomplishments at the place she has dreamed of since she was little, Disney World!

We are reaching out to the community to help us raise funds to get Kiley to Disney and have the time of her life. She once qualified for Make-A-Wish, but the pandemic interrupted that timeline and Kiley aged out of the requirements, the cut-off is 18. So, we her friends and fans, are now her Make A Wish Committee. Like Kiley, I also believe in magic! I believe in the gigantic hearts of the people of Long Island and the online community at large to come together and make Kiley’s Disney wish come true! Good people deserve good things and Kiley McDonnell deserves nothing but the best. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, but this young lady has defied all the odds of a 2 year life expectancy and is heading towards her 21st birthday!

The funds being raised will be used exclusively for travel from Long Island to Orlando and back with her Dad and one of her devoted nurses. Accommodations on the park grounds will be included, as even short travel is extremely difficult on a ventilator. Kiley has had this Disney dream for so long and I believe with community support, we can make this dream achievable for her. We want her to know how many people are out there rooting for her and that dreams really can come true! Then she can meet Mickey and Minnie and all of her favorite characters at the Happiest Place on Earth. Kiley wakes up and fights to stay with us every day. It is our turn to fight for Kiley’s dream, to infinity and beyond!

Kiley McDonnell is a living miracle. She is the ultimate survivor and has overcome every obstacle in her path during her 20 years so far on this planet. She is the best living example of mind over matter! Her illness does not define her. However, the way she chooses to wake up every day and fight through her physical suffering with great bravery and yet still manages to keep her optimism, positivity, and beautiful imagination firing on all cylinders at all times from her magical heart, absolutely does define her. Help us show Kiley that fairy tales do come true when you wish upon a star! Thank you all in advance for your love, support and contributions.