Make-A-Wish Surprise in Reno

Saturday afternoon the North Eastern California/Northern Nevada chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted 17 year old Julia Aitken's wish. 

Julia Aitken is 17 years old and a year and a half ago she was diagnosed with lymphoma. Her parents, Brian and Cheryl Aitken coordinated with Make-A-Wish and submitted her wish of traveling to New Zealand to see where the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies were filmed. Cheryl Aitken told us that, "when you have a teenager that has cancer, it knocks you down," but they feel lucky that it was caught early enough that she hasn't had to go through years of treatment, but she still had to deal with a terminal sentence. She says that "anything that Make-A-Wish has brought to [them] has been wonderful and so important to her."

Julia was brought to Meadowod mall for a scavenger hunt sending her to stores all across the mall. She didn't have a clue that such a big surprise was waiting for her at the end. When she finally arrived at Macy's, her family and representatives from the Make-A-Wish Foundation surprised her with the trip to New Zealand. 

Julia jumped and cried tears of joy when she heard the news. She said it would take at least a week for the the idea of the trip to sink in. She hopes to visit the Shire, a beautiful waterfall she's read about, and take her senior pictures there. 

Julia told us that, "any kid who thinks that dreams do not come true because they have cancer, it's not the end of the world. Dreams come true."

KTVN will have more on this story tonight at 11 o'clock.