Girl with hydrocephalus gets wish fulfilled of being an animal caretaker for the day

YORK TWP. — A 9-year-old Chardon girl pet, brushed and rode farm animals at Whispering Acres Animal Sanctuary on Wednesday to fulfill her wish of being an animal handler for the day. Workshop of Wishes Director of Wish Granting Sara Mihalik said her organization is a local nonprofit that grants wishes to kids and youths up to 20 years old who have a life-threatening illness. "What we're doing here today is our NP For Kids When I Grow Up program, so Nuremberg Paris helps sponsor these," she said. "We work with places in the community to make this experience happen for our wish kids." Bonnie Shahan is the mother of Trinity Hipps. Shahan said Trinity has hydrocephalus, a heart condition, absence seizures, chromosome deletion, hypotonia and ADHD and anxiety, which she said probably stems from brain trauma from her surgeries. "She's a sweet, fun-loving ball of sass," Shahan said. "She loves life, people and animals. She loves helping, and she loves rescuing. She will rescue worms if she can. She will rescue anything that needs help." Mihalik said when she met Trinity, she expressed that she wanted to be a donkey handler when she grows up. Workshop of Wishes then partnered with Whispering Acres to provide Trinity with the experience. "She instinctively is drawn to helping and rescuing, and when we were talking about things she wants to experience and try, this was no question," Shahan said. "We live in the country too, so this child has literally walked up to birds that have been caught in reeds. She'll just pick them right up since it's just so natural to her." Trinity wore a bright pink "donkey trainer" shirt and medal while she brushed the fur of Algebra the donkey from Whispering Acres on Wednesday. She also got the opportunity to interact with the chickens, goats, ponies and horses at the animal sanctuary. "It's so important because it not only gives them something to look forward to, it also gives them these memories and the hope that they can still do fun things even with their diagnoses," Mihalik said. "We have these kids in our organization until they're 21, and we really just want to give them these lifelong memories that they can always keep with them." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.