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Teen battling cancer surprised with dream vacation
Jude Smith, a local 18-year-old battling cancer, was surprised with a trip to Hawaii. It’s thanks to help from the charity "Nik’s Wish."
ORLANDO, Fla. -
A Florida teenager battling cancer and his family can start packing their bags and bathing suits because his wish to go to Hawaii is finally coming true.
"I almost cried like, it’s insane. I never thought I’d be able to. I didn’t even remember the wish, I totally forgot I made the wish," 18-year-old Jude Smith said.
"Seeing Jude in a moment like that after all he’s been through, to be really excited and celebrate that look on his face – I don’t think I’ll ever forget that," Jude’s dad, Jeffrey Smith, said.
It’s thanks to help from the charity "Nik’s Wish".
In January, during Jude’s senior year of high school, his parents took him to what they thought was a regular doctor's appointment.
"We thought I had asthma so we got a scan done," Jude said. But the results were not anything they imagined.
"They found the mass in my chest and we had to start treating it right away," Jude said.
Jude was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin Lymphoma. He went through chemo and radiation quickly.
"I instantly fell to my knees and started praying for him. I’ve been through it,"Madison Ellis with "Nik’s Wish," said. "My brother had leukemia and it threw me back to that moment when I found out my brother had cancer, so I wanted to do anything and everything I could to help Jude’s family."
"Most of the year has been treatments and just trying to figure out how to get past this season in his life, so he can move on to the next thing God has for him," Jeffrey said.
Jude continues to defy all odds.
"One thing they said was he would not graduate and he wouldn’t go to prom and he did both of those things, so we’re believing in a lot of other things no one was expecting," Jeffrey said.
As for Jude, he says this is not the end and is forever moving forward.
"God gave me a quick word right at the beginning of it and that’s, life gives you hurdles and hurdles are meant to jump over and I believe in that I'll be able to jump over that hurdle," Jude said.