Maely-Kate is a beautiful little girl with a nasty glioma. Her hospice nurse and hospital social worker contacted us to help make her dream come true. MK wanted to have a “pink and purple monkey party” with real monkeys...
Maely-Kate is a beautiful little girl with a nasty glioma. Her hospice nurse and hospital social worker contacted us to help make her dream come true. MK wanted to have a “pink and purple monkey party” with real monkeys. According to her mother, MK loves monkeys, and her wish is to go to Costa Rica when she gets better to see real monkeys. Recently, Mom has been looking for monkeys closer to home.
Okay, first things first…where do we get real monkeys? Having paid for a kangaroo visit in the past, we knew there was a local company with animals available to visit, and investigation indicated that they did have a monkey. However, we also knew that the live animal visit was expensive. Mom said that the hospital social worker said that she knew a doctor who said that he knew someone who had monkeys: Richard. And sure enough, when we tracked down Richard, he reported that he has lots of animals (including monkeys), and he and his animals have worked in the past with another organization to bring joy to sick children. But how much would it cost? He said, “In a case like this, it won’t cost anything.” Amazing news!
Next, a venue. With an anticipated guest list of 50-90 well-wishers, the back yard wasn’t going to be big enough. We started looking for a venue appropriate for a child’s pink and purple monkey party. We found a promising venue and sent the manager an email outlining what we wanted and then threw in the wrinkle: the party would include live monkeys. Would they permit that? The owners said, “If you have insurance to cover the monkeys, we will consider it.”
So, on to insurance. Project 4031 does not have insurance coverage for potentially mischievous monkeys, so back to Richard. Richard didn’t hesitate; of course he has insurance for the monkeys, and he could send me a copy of that right over.
After a long hospital stay, Maely-Kate was going home…in time to celebrate her 6th birthday. This sounded like an excellent time for a pink and purple monkey party. We hosted the party which proved to be a perfect opportunity for family and friends to gather to celebrate this beautiful little girl. The birthday girl was the guest of honor, but the two monkeys, the lemur, and the kangaroo who joined the party were also a big hit! It was an opportunity to be part of something very special, and at Project 4031, we were lucky to be part of the celebration.