If the scene Saturday night at Honolulu Airport was indeed the last 6-year-old Abriana Detty will see of Hawaii, it could hardly have been more appropriate.
Bearing homemade signs, pink balloons and lots of Kleenex, nearly 100 friends of the Detty family showed up at the Delta Airlines check-in area to wish Abriana, who has terminal cancer, a fond farewell before she left for Florida and a long-overdue visit to Disney World.
"We just wanted to give her the send-off that a princess deserves," said Venus Laney, who organized the gathering.
Abriana was first diagnosed with germ cell cancer three years ago, while the Army family was stationed in South Korea. She was immediately transported to Hawaii and, until Saturday night, had spent most of the past 21⁄2 years at Tripler Army Medical Center.
After an exhaustive battle that included some 40 surgeries and an unsuccessful experimental treatment, Abriana’s parents met with physicians last week and made the decision to let their daughter live out her last days in as much comfort as possible. They were told that she had roughly a month to live.
Abriana wasn’t quite ready for her grand reception. Exhausted and in pain, she clung to her father, Spc. Stephen Detty, as beaming well-wishers surrounded them.
Abriana wanted to visit Disney World, but raising the funds to get there was a challenge. The Detty family was not eligible for help from the Make-a-Wish Foundation because the foundation had already granted Abriana her one wish — a dog — when she was first diagnosed.
"At the time, doctors only expected her to live for six months," Laney said. "They didn’t anticipate that this little fighter would last another 21⁄2 years."
So Laney set up a website to collect funds for the trip and to help with the other onerous expenses the family has incurred. As of Saturday the drive was just $1,400 short of its goal of $10,000.
Many of those who turned out Saturday are, like Laney and Abriana’s mother, Amber, affiliated with the multilevel sales company Scentsy.
"These are my sisters," said Amber Detty. "Leaving them and leaving Hawaii is bittersweet for us, but Abriana is ready to go."
Most of the folks who came to say goodbye arrived wearing pink, Abriana’s favorite color.
"This isn’t something I usually wear," said Ken Reese, looking down at his pink T-shirt, "but this is for Abriana. This is all for her."
Reese said he was heartbroken over Abriana’s ordeal but glad that she’ll spend her last weeks having fun with her family.
Brandy Florez, a Tripler nurse who helped care for Abriana over the past year, was also on hand to say goodbye. She recalled how Abriana set up a de facto beauty shop in the pediatric ward, offering expert nail polishing to nurses and other staff.
"She’s a really, really joyous little girl to be around, and she brought so much life to the nurses and doctors and other patients," Florez said.
As airport officials prepared to usher the Dettys through the security checkpoint, Abriana stirred slightly in her father’s arms. Wrapped loosely in a pink-and-white blanket, her fingernails neatly painted with glittery green polish, the dying girl moved the fine brown hair from her face and scanned the dozens of pink-clad friends still milling about. And she smiled.
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