Hayward boy's dream to go to Disney comes true - and then some

HAYWARD, Calif. - A Hayward boy with a rare form of cancer who dreamed of going to Disney World will be soon going to the Happiest Place on Earth and fundraising efforts to send him there will also help other children realize their wishes, too.

A day after KTVU highlighted the plight of 4-year-old Henry Carter, One at a Time campaign director Nick Ordonez said on Friday that his nonprofit raised more than the $5,000 they had sought, and now all the extra money will pay for other sick children to fulfill their dreams too, which may be up to as many as 10 other children.  

On Thursday, Henry's family went public with his plea for a trip of a lifetime. 

His mother, Alice Carpenter, said Henry's troubles began when the family noticed a small lump on his head.

A few days later he was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, and his tumor was the size of a softball on his adrenal gland. It had also spread to his bone marrow, and to his brain. 

Hank's treatment worked for a little while but not well enough, his mother said. 

So the family made a decision, they would try treatment with specialists at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. At first Hank and his mom Allie moved there for a year. Now they go back and forth each month. Hank's dad and two siblings stay behind.

These trips and the last two years have been incredibly hard on the family. So the nonprofit Campaign One at a Time is trying to help them with a different kind of travel.

And they succeeded.

Henry and his family are hoping Hank might be well enough to go to Disney in Florida by late summer.