A little boy awaiting his dinner with a big grin on his face will soon have the opportunity to meet a mouse, Mickey Mouse.

Isaac Hand and his family will journey hundreds of miles to central Florida, where they will visit Disney World, thanks to the Northwest Missouri Dream Factory.

Five-year-old Isaac, who was born with Down Syndrome in October 2003 at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe, has had a total of eight surgeries, four in which tubes were placed in his ears to help his 15-20 percent hearing loss. He has also had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids and has had three hand surgeries to improve his syndactyly, which is the webbing of the hands or feet. Isaac also has two toes on each foot that are still fused together.

Mother Amy Hand, was born and raised in Chillicothe and is currently a teacher’s aid at Chillicothe Middle School. Dad Devon is originally from Chicago and is a reserve soldier having served in Iraq for 18 months and then Afghanistan from April 2007 until October 2007, during which time Isaac was having many of his surgeries. Isaac also has a baby sister, Kayden, who recently had her first birthday.

Amy learned that her child might have Down Syndrome during her pregnancy. Doctors told her that tests from her blood work showed Down’s or spina bifida. Amy then went to KU Medical Center to have more tests and doctors there confirmed that it was Down’s. Amy carried Isaac to full term and on Oct. 10, 2003, she gave birth to 3 pound 12 ounce baby Isaac, measuring only 12 inches long. He was not only born with Down Syndrome but also hypothyroidism, which is an inactive thyroid and severe psoriasis, a skin rash which is treated by UVD light.

Amy stated that Isaac wore doll clothes for the first three to five months.

“He had a bear that was wearing a military gray PT outfit with swishy pants,” Amy said he wore that quite often. She also said that the preemie diapers also had to be sized down to fit him.

In March 2009, Ron Dougan, Northwest Missouri Dream Factory volunteer, spotted Isaac at the Dream Factory’s annual Dollars for Dreams campaign at Hy-Vee Food  Store in Chillicothe. Ron had said that the booth was being put up and he was distributing balloons to kids he saw in the aisles. “I spotted the Hands,” Dougan said. “They had their backs to me and I walked up and tapped Isaac on the shoulder and asked him if he would like a balloon. He turned around and grinned up at me and I just fell in love with him.”

Dougan has been with the program for over 19 years and has granted more than 75 dreams. The Dream Factory grants dreams to children diagnosed with critical or chronic illnesses who are 3 through 18 years of age.

Nominations for the Dream Factory can be submitted by anyone. Contact Ron Dugan for submission at his office at 660-359-0100, his cell, 816-387-7460 or email rdkclive@att.net. Over 90 percent of all donations goes to the children to make dreams come true........