ISSUED: 9 February 2022
MEDIA CONTACT: Dana Costa
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Gabriel Lee, 7, Shepherd University’s Make-A-Wish child, had the Christmas experience of a lifetime in New York City. Gabe, his mother Morgan Lee, and other members of the family spent five days before Christmas experiencing New York just like the character Kevin McCallister did in Gabe’s favorite movie, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”
The family stayed at the Plaza Hotel, which delivered what Gabe considers the highlight of the trip—the “Home Alone sundae” consisting of 16 scoops of assorted ice cream, whipped cream, maraschino cherries, M&M’S, brownie bits, chocolate, caramel, and raspberry sauce.
“When they knocked on the door and there was ice cream,” Gabe said. Quoting that scene from the movie, he added “two scoops? Make it three. I’m not driving.”
“The kids thought it was amazing to stay at the Plaza because that’s what they’d seen in the movie,” Morgan Lee said. “It’s all gold and they just kept saying ‘it’s so fancy.’ They jumped on the bed like the character did in the movie and ate the ice cream and pizza.”
Morgan said every day offered a crazy adventure that the family would not, under normal circumstances, get to experience.
“We got to be picked up in a limo with a large cheese pizza and hang out the window as we drove through New York City,” she said. “Getting to see the Empire State Building for the first time and just being in awe of all the lights and how big it was. It was pretty amazing to get to open FAO Schwarz. We got to be there when they let all the people in.”
The family was able to attend the Rockettes holiday show in Radio City Music Hall, visit the Statue of Liberty, and ice skate at Rockefeller Center—another of Gabe’s favorite experiences during the trip.
“That was so cool,” Morgan said. “It’s one of those things you see in pictures, all the shows, and every movie. To be there and see the tree all lit up and to be right there in the middle of all of it was absolutely amazing.”
Gabe became a Make-A-Wish child because he was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart.
“It essentially means the left side of his heart didn’t form,” Morgan said.
Gabe had three surgeries at ages six days, eight months, and three years to keep his heart working. After the third surgery, doctors gave Gabe a pacemaker that he is 100 percent dependent on. Morgan said getting to experience Gabe’s dream trip is meaningful to the entire family.
“We now have those memories of these things that they wouldn’t otherwise get to experience,” she said. “At some point we will be grateful to have these memories because they will get us through those difficult times. I think all of those memories are priceless.”
Since Shepherd’s Make-A-Wish Wishmakers on Campus organization successfully raised the $4,400 needed to grant Gabe his wish, the organization has adopted a second child, Piper, who dreams of having her basement redecorated.
To learn more about Shepherd’s Wishmakers on Campus and to donate, visit https://www.shepherd.edu/communityservice/wishmakers.
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