Make-A-Wish cancer survivor becomes candy maker for a day

ORLANDO, Fla. -
Pierce Kight is living his dream to be a candy maker for a day.

Starting with putting on his own custom chef coat at the Las Olas Confections Factory and then going on a tour to see just how all of that candy is made.

Getting a close-up of chocolates on conveyor belts and candies coming together just like a scene out of the movies.

"His brothers kept saying you get to be Willy Wonka!" his mother Becky Kight said. "And so he was telling people, ‘I’m gonna be Willy Wonka!’

In his own room at the candy factory, Pierce had his own assembly line of fruits, cookies, and candies to be dipped in chocolate and covered with toppings. While Pierce can be shy and soft-spoken, as a candy maker he’s in charge and not holding back designing sweet treats with his three older brothers.

"They all love candy and chocolates," Becky Kight said about her sons.

All of this was made possible by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

"In all the times he was in the hospital he would watch videos of candy making, and it was very calming to him and that’s just something he has wanted to do was be able to make candy," Becky Kight said.

Pierce was just four years old when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and had to get immediate treatment. Now eight years old, he no longer needs sugar to help the medicine go down, because he’s in remission.

"It took a toll on him, but now he’s not on any medications and he goes to the clinic every other month, and he’s doing great," Becky Kight said. "You would never know by looking at him that he’s been through anything. He’s pretty resilient."

He’s a cancer survivor and now a candy maker.

The special candy he creates will be sold in select stores to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.