Disney visitors treat cancer patients like celebrities during visit

And Drew, now 10 years old, wanted to feel like he was famous. Patchin said he loved being recognized as a celebrity in his hometown of St. Louis, having been featured on local news several times during his battle with brain cancer.

So late last month, the family wanted to see if he could feel like famous during a trip to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. A few hours before Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (Drew wanted to meet one of Snow White’s dwarfs, Dopey’s favorite character), Patchin’s sister pretended to recognize several of the attendees. Drew posted online asking if he could have it done. But with the help of TikTok creators, the request went viral. Everywhere Drew went during the September 29 party, guests and Disney employees shouted his name, asked for autographs, and posed for pictures.

“They were all so magical that I couldn’t buy them for my kids,” said Patchin, 43.

Drew has been suffering from brain cancer since 2019 when he was first diagnosed with a type of tumor, ependymomas, at the age of six.

That same year, Patchin said he underwent surgery to remove the tumor and about 30 radiation treatments, all of which were “no big deal” to him. Because he was young at the time, he quickly forgot about his weeks in the hospital and the treatment he received, she said.

Drew, who has always loved characters and mascots, watched “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Paw Patrol” while undergoing radiation treatment. After treatment, she lived as normal a life as possible, traveling with her family to Disney theme parks and sporting events to see her favorite characters and mascots.

And aside from once noticing that a cast member of Mickey Mouse’s dog, Pluto, had a plastic tongue, Drew still “believed in the magic” of the character, Patchin said.

“He believes that until proven otherwise,” she says. “And I love that about him.”

For years, the Patchins considered themselves lucky. When Drew’s cancer returned in 2021, the tumor was removed again. He had experienced brain cancer twice, and his family hoped he would never have to face it again.

“We knew that if it happened again, our options were very limited,” Patchin said.

When the family learned this spring that the cancer had returned for a third time and was almost inoperable, their approach was “very different,” Patchin said. She along with her husband Doug. son Tyler, 5 years old; And her sister Debbie Schultz made a list of everything she wanted to do with Drew over the next nine months.

At the same time, Patchin was contacting doctors across the country, hoping to find one who might be able to help her son.

In July, Drew had part of the tumor removed and began chemotherapy as part of a six-week clinical trial that Patchin’s family thought might help remove the third tumor. But an MRI scan on Sept. 8 showed it was only growing, Patchin said.

The family scheduled another scan in November and decided to go to Orlando for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party while Drew kept his spirits up. Hoping to make the party even more special for Drew and her brother, Patchin’s sister posted about the event on her Facebook group.

“If you’re going tonight and you happen to see them and want to make some pixie dust, just ‘recognizing’ them as a celebrity will get them excited! ” Schultz wrote the request hours before the event started.

Her plea was delivered to Kristen Sotakul, 33, a self-described “Disney Adult” and content creator who was in Orlando with her husband over the same weekend.

Sotakun, who worked as a Disney cast member more than a decade ago, was planning to attend a Halloween party and was checking the Facebook group that afternoon when she saw Schultz’s post.

“I thought it doesn’t take any effort to celebrate this boys’ day,” Sotakul said.

She knew that if she saw Drew and Tyler, she would say hi. But she wanted to take it a step further by sharing Schultz’s request to her more than 1 million followers on TikTok.

“I think I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t use my platform for this kind of thing, for something good,” Sotakun said.

She sent a message to Mr. Schultz asking for permission to make a video and include a photo of the Patchin family so people would recognize it. Sotakun knew she only had three hours until the party, but she hoped her video would reach at least five or ten people who would help. Ta.

However, the number of views on the video skyrocketed. Users began showering comments on the video to express support and expand its online reach.

With about an hour left until the party, Sotakul started receiving messages from cast members attending the event who had shared their requests with other Disney colleagues in a group chat.

Seeing Drew and Tyler’s wishes come true shows that “magic is really real,” Sotakul said.

“It was amazing to see so many people come together for these two boys in such a simple way,” she said.

From the moment Drew and Tyler, dressed as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, entered the Magic Kingdom, dozens of partygoers shouted their names and expressed how excited they were to see them. he screamed in a high-pitched voice, Patchin said. Disney cast members stationed throughout the park also took selfies and asked for autographs.

During the parade at the end of the night, Drew’s favorite character, Dopey, jumped over the rope fence and hugged him, then kissed him, Patchin’s video showed. She sent videos and photos from the party to Sotakun so she could share updates with her TikTok users who have been asking about Drew’s day.

Since the party, Sotakun’s TikToks have been viewed more than 8 million times, and Patchin and his family are still trying to figure out the numbers. They wanted Drew and Tyler to become celebrities, but they never expected that millions of people around the world would be interested in the brothers and their story.

In the coming months, Patchin will cherish the memory of how he was able to make Drew’s wish come true with the help of Sotakun and strangers online as his family considers a course of action after his next MRI scan. I have to.

Patchin asked Drew Wednesday morning. What was his favorite part of the day?

“Everything,” he said.