Cancer patient's Disneyland wish granted by former classmates from Granada Hills

Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Cancer patient's wish to go to Disneyland one last time granted
Dana Kennon, 58, is suffering with Stage 4 Breast Cancer that eventually spread to her lungs and bones all across her body.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) -- Dana Kennon, 58, is suffering with stage 4 breast cancer that eventually spread to her lungs and bones all across her body. Her doctors predicted that she would only live another three to four months, but she is still living more than two years after her diagnosis.

She wrote a post on her Facebook profile saying that her dying wish was to go to Disneyland one last time to see the holiday lights, and to go with someone who had never been before so that she could experience it through their eyes, seeing Disneyland for the first time.

A former high school classmate of hers, Nancy Juetten from John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, saw the post and decided to raise the funds to make her wish come true. Juetten got their graduating class of 1979 together to raise the funds and send Dana, her daughter and her daughter's girlfriend to Disneyland for two days, all expenses paid.

"That just one simple mention of I have cancer you know...and I had this bucket list and these people from 40 years ago...40 years ago! spring up and didn't ask any questions within a day or two everybody was 'what can we do to help?' and that's community," said Dana Kennon in gratitude to her former classmates.

Battling cancer can be extremely difficult, and it was particularly difficult for Dana as she didn't always have the funds for treatment.

More recently her insurance stopped providing coverage for her medication, and an anonymous donor gave her the money for another month of chemotherapy at just over $1,500.

With the physical and financial burden that cancer has put on Dana's life she says that Disney movies were what took her away from it all, making her feel like she was 12 years-old again.

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