Paralyzed 3-Year-Old Has Simple Wish Granted
Kellan Tilton, 3, was born paralyzed and recently wished for a pathway to allow him to wheel himself from his house to his barn. (Photo: Make-A-Wish Maine/Facebook)
A 3-year-old who was born paralyzed from the waist down, with a cancerous tumor on his spine and abdomen, saw his dream come true this week thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But instead of asking for a trip to Disney World or a meeting with his favorite athlete, the Maine boy’s wish was simple: a pathway from his house to his family barn, so he can travel back and forth in his wheelchair.
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Shortly after birth, doctors discovered that Kellan Tilton had a tumor and started the newborn on chemotherapy on his third day of life. He’s been through four rounds of chemo, doctors have almost entirely removed his tumor, and he’s currently cancer-free. But while he’s mastered his wheelchair, Kellan hasn’t been able to travel across the grass from his house to the barn, where his dad and eight siblings often like to work. Instead, his father has had to carry him — until now. A new 200-foot pathway, leading directly from his home to the barn, has granted Kellan the freedom to ride to the barn on his own.
Kellan, with a hand from his father, Dan, helps with the construction of his new pathway. (Photo: Make-A-Wish Maine/Facebook)
When Make-A-Wish Maine, which grants wishes for children with terminal, degenerative, or malignant life-threatening illnesses, received Kellan’s wish, they were touched by its simplicity. “Typically, a wish from Make-A-Wish Maine is a wish to travel, because we have cold winters and kids long for warm weather. We get a lot of requests for the Disney resorts or meeting a celebrity,” Sonya Purington, Make-A-Wish Maine’s marketing director, tells Yahoo Parenting. “As soon as Kellan’s wish came in, to have a pathway to his barn to help his dad, our hearts instantly melted. There was something so simple and so wise beyond his years about it. He realized, If I had the ability to wheel myself, I could do a lot more. It surprised us.”
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Purington says the wish represented everything Make-A-Wish wants to do for young children. “Kellan came up with this wish all by himself. His parents didn’t coax or coach him, and that’s what we strive for — granting the most heartfelt wish of the child,” she says. “Kellan is starting to realize that he is not like his friends who are mobile, and he is trying to find his place in the world. This pathway will give him independence and boost his confidence. It will plant that seed of freedom and ‘I can do this on my own’ as he moves through life.”
Kellan poses on the new swing set he got from Make-A-Wish Maine. (Photo: Make-A-Wish Maine/Facebook)
The pathway, completed on Tuesday, took just over a week to build. A local construction company donated labor and materials, and workers not only built the pathway but also set up a new swing set for Kellan.
Dan Tilton, Kellan’s father, says his son is thrilled with the new addition to their house. “We’ve got a big yard with lawns to mow; we cut our own firewood, have a tractor — Kellan’s an outside guy. That’s where he wants to be,” Dan tells Yahoo Parenting. “Now, when he starts his day, the first thing he wants to do is go out on his path. Today we were out there at 6 a.m. Throughout the day, he’s zooming up and back. It’s given him such freedom and mobility to control his own destiny more than he has in the past.”
Kellan rides the excavator with local construction workers who donated their time to build his family pathway. (Photo: Make-A-Wish Maine/Facebook)
Dan says that while he was touched by his son’s wish, he wasn’t surprised by it. “It really speaks to his personality. Kellan finds the greatest joys in the things a lot of us take for granted,” he says. “He’s a kid who wakes up, and when you pick him up out of his crib, he looks out the window and says, ‘What a beautiful day,’ even if it’s pouring outside. So I knew it would mean the world to him to be able to get to the barn and not depend on other people.”
While some are calling the wish simple, Dan says it is anything but. “I don’t know if it could be any more meaningful,” he says. “He gets it. He knows what freedom can do to make him happy.”
And the wish granting isn’t over yet. Make-A-Wish Maine has a fun day of surprises planned for Kellan and his family this Saturday, both at home and in town, culminating in a big pathway reveal party. “Make-A-Wish has helped us create a new family,” Dan says. “We’ll be forever thankful, but we’ve already talked about what we can do to help the organization in the future.”
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