Sunday, February 14, 1999

Abby's Days In The Sun Thanks to a protective suit, a little girl with a rare disease experienced a dream come true

BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Abby, wearing mouse ears over her protective NASA-designed suit, gets her dreamed-of-embrace from Mickey Mouse. (Gary Landers photos) | ZOOM |

        ORLANDO, Fla. — It started at her Middletown home. Abby Perkins-Banks bounced on the sofa Monday morning as her family finished packing suitcases before leaving for Walt Disney World.

        It soon turned into a chant: “I wanna see Mickey Mouse. I wanna see Mickey Mouse.”

        It continued on the airplane from Dayton to Florida.

        “I'm going to go see Mickey Mouse. I'm gonna hug him,” she told the captain, who invited her to visit the cockpit.

        And at the breakfast table the next day in Orlando, the chant erupted once more: “I wanna see Mickey Mouse. I wanna see Mickey Mouse.”

        On Wednesday, 5-year-old Abby came face-to-face with a childhood dream: Disney's famous mouse.

        Swathed from head to toe in a NASA-designed suit that protects her from deadly ultraviolet rays, Abby stood on tippy toes and stretched to wrap her tiny arms around the mouse's neck.

        “Oh, Mickey. I love you,” she said.

Indoors and out of her suit, Abby shies away from Dale the chipmunk. | ZOOM |

        The visit with Mickey was one of the highlights of the weeklong trip to Florida for Abby, who has a rare genetic disease called xeroderma pigmentosum (XP). It has caused the Middletown girl to be allergic to the sun, triggering skin cancers and other life-threatening problems.

        It was her first extensive vacation since being diagnosed with the illness at age 9 months. And she made sure Mickey knew it.

        “Did you see my new spacesuit from NASA? That's how I got to be here now,” she told Mickey, pushing up her mouse ears hat.

Abby's mom, Caroline, pushes Abby and sister Adrianna, 21 months, along Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. | ZOOM |

        Mingling with the mouse didn't last long, just five minutes. But the memories — for the girl and her mother — will last a lifetime.

        “She did it. She finally got to hug Mickey,” said Caroline Perkins-Banks holding her other daughter, 21-month-old Adrianna. Mom's eyes sparkled with tears.

        “This is worth the world to me.”

        As she left Disney's Magic Kingdom, a weary Abby lay back in the stroller. She now could rest, her mission accomplished.

        “Mom, did you see me hug Mickey?”

CLICK HERE for a journal and more photos from Abby's first vacation

---

Days in the Sun
'Someday, Abby, someday'
'Look at all that water'
Real-life Cinderella
Rude stares, comments hurt
Sundown brings freedom
World opening for Indiana boy, too