Submitted photo Haley Cunningham poses with her horse Diesel in front of the new barn gifted to her by the Make A Wish Foundation. Haley, second from left, stands with her mother Sarah, sister Leslie and father Tim.
DAILEY — When Make a Wish Foundation officials asked what 14-year-old Haley Cunningham would like to have more than anything, her response was quick and without hesitation — a barn for her horse.
“She told me she could take a trip somewhere for a few days or a week, but with a barn she could put it in her backyard and see her horse everyday,” area Make a Wish Granter April Bodkin told The Inter-Mountain. “Her horse was having to be stored somewhere else because she didn’t have shelter for it close to her house. She wanted to have the horse somewhere where she could go out and frequently ride, brush or do whatever.”
For Haley, who was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodkin’s Lymphoma in January, having to move her horse, Diesel, back and forth from where it was kept just became too much work.
“She would have to go across the street and on the hill to get the horse and walk it home,” Haley’s mother, Sarah Cunningham, told The Inter-Mountain. “She had nowhere to store her saddles and everything else, so by the time she carried all of that down and got the horse down to the house where she rides, she would be just worn out.”
On Tuesday, close to 60 friends and family turned out for a reveal party hosted by Make a Wish at Haley’s home on the Back Road in Dailey. Haley’s gift was delivered and set up while she was in school Tuesday at the Good Shepherd Christian Academy in Elkins.
“Make a Wish told her she could take a trip or get something she wanted,” Sarah Cunningham said. “She was allowed to give them three choices of the things she wanted and she told them a little barn, a medium size barn, or a big barn.
“She knew that she had her wish granted, but she thought she was going to be in the spring when she got it. So when we pulled up to the house (Tuesday) and she caught a glimpse of it, she was ecstatic. She was very excited to get something for her horse.”
Now that the horse is within steps of Haley’s home, her mother believes that Haley, who is finally getting her strength back after finishing treatments and getting a clear scan in September, will be able to start doing the things she used to do.
“She had to tremendously cut back what she was used to doing,” Sarah Cunningham said. “She is still not 100 percent, but her strength is building back up. She is living the dream right now.”
Her mother said the last nine months were tough on Haley, especially in the beginning. Beyond having surgery and receiving chemotherapy at a hospital in Morgantown, Haley had to spend a month at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
“She’s one tough cookie, there’s no doubt about that,” Sarah said. “She really went through some tough stuff early on. She got diagnosed on the 19th of January and then six days later, she got COVID-19. That made it hard for them to do the surgery because they had to sterilize the operating room and everything because she was COVID positive.
“She had to stay awake for the surgery where they went in and cut out one of the lymph nodes on her neck. She had to stay awake for the whole thing because they couldn’t put a tube down her throat.”
Haley’s stamina and excitement was evident the very next morning after receiving the gift, her mother said.
“At 6:30 a.m. this morning I went to wake her up for school and she was gone and already out at the barn,” Sarah Cunningham said. “She was so excited to be able to get up and go out and do that.”
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October 28, 2021 at 11:10AM
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Make a Wish gifts barn to Dailey girl - The Inter-Mountain
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