Guardian photo by Jim Day
Photo: Cory Gray of Vogue Optical and four-year-old Sophie Young cuddle with Mickey Mouse on a sheet of ice at the Charlottetown Curling Club. The 7th Annual Vogue Optical Curl for Wishes runs here April 7-9.
(by Jim Day)
Sophie Young is tearing around tables in the Charlottetown Curling Club with the joyful abandon of any other four-year-old child.
Her bursts of energy, however, are much shorter and further apart than most children her age.
Sophie has atrioventricular septal defect or AVSD – a congenital heart defect that is as bad as it sounds.
Packed into a tiny frame, Sophie stands little more than two feet tall and weighs a mere 27 pounds. Andria Young says the energy levels of her diminutive daughter are, for the large part, very low.
Today, the family is focused on a special trip. In mid-May, Sophie is heading to Disneyland in Florida with her parents, her brother Christopher and her sister Katlyn.
“She knows she is going to see Mickey Mouse,” said Andria.
“She tells everyone she is going on the tea cups.”
The trip will be paid for by funds raised last year in the Annual Vogue Optical Curl for Wishes in support of the Children’s Wish Foundation, PEI Chapter. The seventh annual curling fundraiser is being held April 7-9 at the Charlottetown Curling Club with 26 teams competing with funds going toward granting one of the wishes the PEI chapter is currently working on.
Cory Gray of Vogue Optical is thrilled to play a part in making special wishes come true.
“To see these young children going through these horrible illnesses, it’s just nice to see them have these wishes and the chance to enjoy the anticipation leading up to them,” he said.
The Youngs extend their gratitude to the Children’s Wish Foundation and to Vogue Optical for making Sophie’s wish a reality.
The Children’s Wish Foundation grants wishes to children between the ages of three and 17 who are diagnosed with a life threatening illness.