Girl With Only Months To Live Fulfills Wish To See Koalas Up Close and Personal

An eight-year old girl has finally fulfilled her dream of coming face-to-face with her favorite animal – a koala bear. While this may not be a big deal for some people, the family of the the little girl was extremely happy and grateful, especially because she is only given less than a year to live.

Katie Higginbotham, an 8-year old girl from Texas, may have not been able to fly to Australia to see a koala bear, but still got to see not only one but two: Oz and Katherine, both Queensland koalas at the Palm Beach Zoo. While the little girl’s family originally planned to fly to Australia to see the koalas there, her health condition makes the original plan out of the question. The young girl was diagnosed with pilocytic astrocytoma, a type of tumor on the brain stem, in October 2016.

Katie Higginbotham has been diagnosed with pilocytic astrocytoma, a type of tumor on the brain stem and is only given months to live.

While Katie has already undergone several chemotherapy and radiation treatments, things only got worse for her. When she had a brain surgery last February to have the cyst removed, it was revealed that her brain cancer is more aggressive than what the doctors originally thought.

With Make-A-Wish Foundation and Palm Beach Zoo in Florida joining hands, Katie’s wish to see a koala bear up close and personal has finally been realized.

Because of the aggressiveness of her cancer, doctors have already thrown in the towel and given Katie only months to live. With Make-A-Wish Foundation and Palm Beach Zoo joining hands to make the remaining days of Katie as memorable as possible, she finally got to fulfill one of her wishes.

Katie’s mother said the experience has painted a well-deserved smile on her child’s face, and it is something that the little girl will always remember.

The Higginbothams took a flight from Texas to Florida, where Katie finally had her wish fulfilled. As the Palm Beach Zoo is the only zoo in the United States that allows visitors to get close to koalas, Katie and her family not only had her photos taken with the marsupials but also got to learn more about them.

Lori, Katie’s mom, said in an interview:

“It’s just nice to see her smile. She deserves it.

“She’ll remember it forever,”the teary-eyed mother added.