SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – On Wednesday, six-year-old Joshua Buchheit heard the words every kid wants to hear, you’re going to Disney!
His mom Jennifer told 10 On Your Side it came after years of medical challenges.
“When Josh was about 20 months in utero, we realized he had hydrocephalus. To make a long story short, he couldn’t pee. His kidneys eventually shut down, so he was in end stage renal failure in utero before birth,” she said.
She said they spent a lot of time at the Boston Children’s Hospital, where at 18-months-old, Joshua received the kidney he needed to live.
It turns out, he didn’t have to look far to find it.
“Yeah it’s a little surreal,” his dad, Ryan Buchheit, who gave Joshua the kidney, said, “So he’s just going through key development time and the fact that, you know, I could do my part to help him through that, you know, get him through his young years and hopefully be an adult.”
Although he still needs a feeding tube to eat, Joshua grew up to be an active young boy; swimming and playing with his brothers.
Wednesday’s surprise was made possible through Chartway Credit Union’s Promise Foundation, in partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Both organizations work to make wishes come true for medically challenged children.
Joshua’s family submitted a wish to Make-A-Wish, who then turned to Chartway to help fund it.
Foundation President, Christine Wilson, told 10 On Your Side seeing the smile on Joshua’s face reminds her of why she does this.
“We want to be that community to support or medically fragile children because community is so important to Chartway and our mission.“
And the big question of the day was, what’s Joshua most excited to see at DisneyWorld?
“Mickey, and I wanna see goofy, and Donald Duck,” he said with a smile.
