As we get older, too often that magical rapture we experienced as children during holidays, in special places or inspired by special people, leaves us. But for the lucky few, it remains. VNA Hospice patient, Doris Gazda, is one of those fortunate few, and it’s thanks to Snow White. At 82-years-young, and with all her faculties intact, Doris’ passion for the leading Disney lady is as strong as ever. Her VNA Home Hospice care team, including her beloved music therapist, Paloma Infante, took note – how could they not when Doris had an entire armoire filled with mini statues of various versions of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in addition to a few other Disney characters? Moved by Doris’ visible passion, they informed the VNA Director of Volunteer Programs and Hidden Treasures Thrift Store, Sara Bumgarner, who jumped into action and planned an amazing afternoon luncheon, which included transportation to a surprise location and that was funded by Project Wish, a VNA & Hospice Foundation-supported program that grants wishes to end-of-life patients.

When the van came to pick up Doris for the outing, she was surprised to be taken to McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach, a place she hadn’t been to in eons. “I said, ‘Why the heck am I going to McKee Garden?’ Little did I know, soon we’re sitting down at a table with beautiful napkins and placemats and all these nice ribbons and various colors in front of me, and at the end of the table everybody was sitting around, and Paloma is over there, and then Snow White walks in – that girl plays the part so perfectly – and she’s got a beautiful voice,” said Doris. As if it couldn’t get any better, Doris recounted, Paloma presented her with a picture of Snow White, who was played by a friend of Paloma’s from college, Carly Graef, a music therapist in West Palm Beach. At the bottom of the picture, “Snow White” wrote a note that read: ‘To Doris from Snow White,’ which thrilled Doris. “She’s got beautiful handwriting; that girl never left character, and it was so delightful, and they had sandwiches and stuff, although I could have cared less about the food. You have all this wonderment around you, and Snow White would sing any song I wanted, and Paloma knew them too because she used to sing a lot of songs from Disney.”

Doris’ joy was visible to all. “Her smile was contagious,” said Paloma. “The luncheon was a success! We came together as a team, and all brought something special to help Mrs. Doris’ dream come true. We had Disney come to her! I wanted to do my best of making the experience as interactive as possible. By having Snow White there, Doris was able to share all her stories and sing her favorite songs with the character she loves most.” The VNA Director of Volunteers and Hidden Treasures concurred: “Mrs. Gazda was beside herself with Joy. She immediately began to tell Snow White about her Snow White collection,” said Sara, adding a few compliments for Snow White herself. “She was engaged with the patient the entire time. She never broke character. Her voice was amazing!”

This beautiful afternoon would not have been possible without the generous benefactors of Project Wish, which is fully funded by donations. Project Wish is just one of many VNA & Hospice Foundation-supported programs, which include the VNA Hospice House, bereavement services, Camp Chrysalis (for children who have lost a loved one), and the Mobile Health Clinic. All of these programs have one thing in common: to provide VNA patients with quality care regardless of their ability to pay. And when it comes to Project Wish, there is extra joy involved. Doris, who clearly savored every moment of her special day, makes this very clear. “There’s not a thing in this world, and there never will be anything that could bring such joy… never, never in my life could I imagine such joy,” she said, with a sparkle in her eyes.

And it turns out Doris’ love for, and loyalty to, Snow White – and the seven dwarfs – paid off in spades about 35 years ago when Doris was at Palm Beach International Airport trying to go through security en route to visit her mother in Massachusetts and discovered that she had left her driver’s license at home. “Security said, ‘Do you have anything with your picture on it? I had nothing, and then I remembered I had several pictures of me with Snow White and the seven dwarfs that I had taken recently at Epcot, one photo with each of them individually that I was going to show my mother,” said Doris. “So, the guy’s looking at the pictures, each one of them a separate picture, and then let me go through. I was able to get on the plane.”

Simply recalling this and other Snow White memories brought so much delight to Doris – and is perhaps her secret to longevity – because by the time this interview took place, about a month after her luncheon, she was no longer on hospice. A lot of people don’t even realize that this is possible; they erroneously think that hospice is ‘giving up’ on life when actually it is all about optimal quality of life. And if a patient’s health improves to the point that their doctor deems them well enough to not be on hospice, then that is exactly what will happen at the VNA. Whatever the case may be, there is one thing for sure, every VNA hospice patient will be treated as well as Doris because VNA caregivers will always go that extra mile to make sure wishes come true. And the gratitude with which this particular wish was received was priceless. As Doris herself put it: “That afternoon was worth $1,000,000 – just the joy of that day. No anniversary gift, birthday gift, or Christmas present will come anywhere near that day.”

*The VNA & Hospice Foundation is able to offer programs like Project Wish to patients like Doris thanks to the generosity of donors. If you’d like to learn how you can support the VNA & Hospice Foundation, please visit vnatc.org.