The staff at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (SEAS) School helped the family of Huck Thomas pull off a surprise of a lifetime for their fourth grader during their last mass of the school year. The Make-A-Wish foundation granted Huck’s wish through a special visit from his favorite Marvel character, Groot. Groot presented Huck with a note stating his wish to go to Orlando, Florida to visit both Universal Studios Theme Park and the Disney Resort had been granted.

Huck is 10 years old and a fourth-grade student at SEAS. Huck has four siblings, two who share his same genetic disease, a neuromuscular disease called Friedreich’s Ataxia. It is a genetic mutation that greatly impacts their balance, coordination, fine motor skills and speech. Scoliosis is also part of the condition and eventually, all three children will end up with heart issues.

Huck’s wish was made about six months ago when he made the difficult choice between going to Italy to try a cheese pizza and going to Universal Orlando to visit Harry Potter World and Disney. Huck chose Harry Potter World and Disney. (A wise choice, Huck!) The wish was granted about two months after submission, but the Thomas’ wanted to make the reveal just as rewarding as the granted wish, so they planned with the folks from Make-A-Wish and enlisted the help of the school.

The plan was simple, Groot and a few wish grantors would come to SEAS on the last full day of school to have Groot tell Huck his wish was granted. There is one small problem, Huck does not speak Groot and Groot does not say anything in English besides “I AM GROOT”, so they had to come up with an addition to the plan.

The mass completed and SEAS Principal, Mr. Sullivan, had to keep the students in the gym for the surprise. Little did the students and Huck know, but Groot had been waiting in the hall with two wish grantors and some SEAS staff members.

Groot presented the note to Huck stating that he and his family would be making a trip to Orlando, Florida in November to spend two days at Universal Orlando and four days at Disney World in Orlando.

“He already knows that he wants to go to Animal Kingdom,” explained Jen Thomas, Huck’s mom.

“Mom! After seeing my wishers, I still didn’t realize what was happening. I think that is shock, right?” Huck said to his mom talking about his surprise.

Congratulations to Huck and the rest of the Thomas family for having their wish granted to bring whole family on a vacation that they won’t soon forget.