2 Make-a-Wish Recipients Get Dream Trips

Warm water, beaches, pineapple trees and hotel rooms with HBO.

Those are some of the things 11-year-old Garrett Ankeny hopes to find when he lands in Hawaii on Sunday.

The Make-a-Wish Foundation is sending the Simi Valley boy and his family on a weeklong vacation to Honolulu. Nearly 3 1/2 years after being diagnosed with leukemia, Garrett is finally healthy enough to make the trip.

“He deserves it,” said Garrett’s mom, Mary Ankeny, who has watched her son tolerate countless pills and needles since he was in the third grade.

“He’s been really good through the whole thing. Never complained, never gave any trouble,” she said.

With his treatments stopped last week, Garrett is looking forward to getting out of town. He has spent his winter break playing sports and video games but said a change of scenery would be nice.

Among his travel plans are a helicopter ride, snorkeling and swimming with dolphins at an interactive marine-life park for kids.

Garrett’s 16-year-old sister, Theresa, said she is happy to tag along. She hopes to get a good tan.

As his parents stocked up on sunscreen and scrambled to pack the family’s bags, Ankeny said the reality of the trip has not yet sunk in.

Still, she said, she is grateful for the chance to get away.

“It will help us forget for a while,” she said.

In granting another Christmas wish, the foundation sent 5-year-old Christian Holm and his family to DisneyWorld in Florida on Friday.

Christian, from Newbury Park, is also fighting leukemia. Since he was 2, he has told his parents he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up.

Christian said he will fight the bad cells in his body because he is “strong and powerful, just like the T. rex.”

Christian is staying at “Give Kids the World Village,” a 35-acre vacation resort for children with life-threatening illnesses. He will visit EPCOT Center, MGM Studios and the Magic Kingdom during his stay.

Volunteers from the Make-a-Wish Foundation rely on gifts and donations to help grant wishes. To donate cash, gifts, cars, frequent-flier miles or to volunteer time, call (888) 899-9474.