SKIATOOK, Okla. - A local family is just trying to celebrate Christmas together after their daughter was diagnosed with a deadly disease this summer.
Unlike many other homes on the street, this one sits without Christmas lights, because the only two things Donny Garrison wants for Christmas aren't here.
“It’s different without them, because they’re always here when I’m home," he said.
His wife and 18-month-old daughter Mackenzie are in Boston fighting for her life.
“It has been a day-to-day struggle. We don’t know by the next day if she’s going to survive," said Mackenzie's mother Lacey Garrison.
A rare form of bone marrow failure has kept the smile they love off of her face for months.
“She struggled through two weeks of chemo, the bone marrow transplant and now her medications make her off and not who she’s supposed to be," she said.
They anticipated spending Christmas in a hospital bed until doctor's discharged her early, December 20, just in time to for Christmas at home.
“She’s had a rough few months, so being home would be normal, and that’s what I want for her. I want her to wake up and see her daddy on Christmas morning.”
But she has to be in isolation at all times, a simple cold could kill her.
So Lacey took to Facebook asking someone grant her Christmas wish.
“So basically it’s going to take a private jet to get us home.”
Driving 25 hours in her condition with medications isn't ideal.
“I never thought I would have to figure this out and explain something," Donny said.
But neither is a child without a proper holiday.
“I want her to know what Christmas can be like if this is her last Christmas. She might not be here next year so I want her to enjoy it.”
Her photo sitting where a shiny tree will soon be, once mom and dad can figure out how to unwrap that infections smile this holiday.
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