About 40 sick and terminally ill children and their parents took the trip of a lifetime Wednesday — to visit Santa on his own turf.
The group took off from Detroit Metro Airport and when they landed, were greeted by Santa Claus.
The trip is made possible by a group of retired airline workers, the Silver Liners Motown Chapter, and their partnership with Delta Air Lines.
Many of the parents said they are happy to see their kids be kids, just like Wesley Johnson's mom, Lisa.
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"It's such a relief ... to just be out and not be about hospitals or cancer or anything like that," said Lisa Auge.
At just 3 years old, Wesley was diagnosed with spinal cancer known as ATRT.
Auge explained that after Wesley took a fall in 2023 after experiencing frequent headaches, they became concerned.
"We kept taking him back to the E.R., and they kept thinking it was a virus, but they ended up finding out that there was a tumor in his spine, like in his neck area," Auge recounted.
After this diagnosis in 2023, Wesley relapsed this year, sending him back to the hospital to continue his battle with cancer.
"He did total brain and spine radiation. He did 30 rounds of that. And we just started last week an oral at-home chemo. So we just go to the hospital for labs and like dressing changes now," said Auge.
All of that was pushed to the back of little Wesley's mind on Wednesday because he said all he could think about was asking Santa for his Christmas wish: a big stuffed dinosaur.
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This article was written by Meghan Daniels for Scripps News Detroit.
