A 10-year-old who had a brain tumor removed now has a dream fulfilled: a bedroom made over.
By JANE MADDEN WELCH
Published December 22, 2003
[Times photos: Libby Volgyes]
Tori Bradley is surrounded by her friends, Mariah Spurgeon, far left, Shannon Quintero and Rachel Ouziel, right, as she explores her new room. Work was completed Tuesday.
Friends Rachel Ouziel, 11, left, and Mariah Spurgeon, 11, right, both of Palm Harbor, help lead a blindfolded Tori into her dream bedroom Tuesday after school.
Tori watches on the first day of work as Stacy Zientarski of Bedknobs and Broomstiks and her assistant Marcie Buchan work on painting parts of the room.
PALM HARBOR - When 10-year-old Tori Bradley performed a flying side kick to earn her tae kwon do black belt, no one in the room, least of all her family, suspected she had a brain tumor.
That was in February. Then Tori started having headaches that doctors first thought were migraines. When they continued, her mother, Kim Bradley, took her to the eye doctor, who discovered something seriously wrong. An MRI the next day confirmed the worst. Tori had a large cancerous brain tumor on her right lobe.
Pediatric neurosurgeon Parrish Winesett had to give Kim Bradley the terrible news in April.
"It was one of the worst days of my life," he said. "The MRI showed a huge tumor."
Tests eventually showed Tori, a fifth-grader at Lake St. George Elementary school, had a rare type of cancer known as an ependymoma.
"You just cannot imagine what it's like," said Kim Bradley, 43. "It's devastating. But Tori has the best attitude I've ever seen."
Tori's oldest sister Melinda, 17, agreed.
"She has the strength of all of us put together," Melinda said.
Surgeons removed an orange-sized tumor. During Tori's six weeks of radiation treatment after surgery, the Bradleys heard about the Children's Dream Fund, a local charity that fulfills dreams for children ages 3 to 18 who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
Tori's dream turned out to be something straight out of the television show Trading Spaces. Making it come true would take imagination, paint and feathers.
The Funky Monkey Jungle
Begun in 1981, the Children's Dream Fund operates out of an office in St. Petersburg donated by All Children's Hospital. A child does not have to be terminally ill to qualify for a dream, nor is the dream necessarily the child's "last wish," although that is sometimes the case. Referrals are received from seven area hospitals, including Tampa Children's Hospital, University Hospital and All Children's Hospital.
"We have never turned down a dream for an eligible child," dream coordinator Joanne Lanning said. "We try to do something positive during a very stressful time."
After the receipt of an application and verification of diagnosis, the children are interviewed by a Dream Fund staff member. The nonprofit organization will fulfill 84 dreams this year on the west coast of Florida.
"We try to guide the children to find something meaningful," Lanning said. "It's important to make it as easy for the family as possible. Many families, like the Bradleys, show unbelievable courage and faith facing a crisis situation."
After several discussions with Tori and her mother, it was decided that making over Tori's bedroom would be a dream come true.
"It took a while to figure out what she wanted," Kim Bradley said. "Tori said that a new bedroom would last a lot longer than a cruise or a trip to Disneyland."
Lanning contacted Stacy Zientarski, 39, owner of Bedknobs and Broomstiks, an interior decorating company specializing in children's design. Zientarski met with Tori to get an idea of what she likes, her favorite colors and styles, her wishes for the bedroom.
Zientarski and her assistant, Marcie Buchan, conceived a "Funky Monkey Jungle" theme, based in part on Tori's nickname, Monkey. They kept the purple walls that Tori and her family had painted over the summer. Adding lime green to Tori's favorite color of purple and introducing jungle-related designs would transform the 11- by 121/2-foot room.
The makeover called for new carpeting, lighting, window treatments, trundle bed, and armoire to store a stereo and television. They kept Tori's dresser and nightstand, but gave them a facelift with new paint.
They framed a mirror with dyed feathers and even incorporated two masks Tori wore during radiation treatments by painting them silver and mounting them on the door for Tori to hang jewelry on.
"This project has been a ball," Zientarski said. "I hope Tori is more than surprised."
Coming home
After a week of intensive behind-the-scenes work on her bedroom, Tori knew only that the project would be finished "sometime." She did not know when or how it would turn out.
With all the preparation done, including a felt vine suspended from the ceiling, Tuesday was chosen as the day to complete the work while Tori was at school.
Last spring, when Tori returned to school after her surgery to remove the tumor, her parents went with her. They arranged with the school to talk to Tori's class and explain what she was going through.
"Tori's classmates asked very thoughtful questions," her mother said. "I was impressed."
Zientarski and Buchan arrived at the Bradleys' early Tuesday morning and began working nonstop. Everything had to be done by 4 p.m.
As part of the project, the Children's Dream Fund planned a Celebration of Life party at the Bradley home when the redecorated bedroom would be revealed. A purple cake in the shape of a bed was on the dining room table. Family and friends gathered in the living room, maintaining silence when Tori was led, blindfolded, down the hallway into the Funky Monkey Jungle.
After family and friends yelled "Surprise!" Tori looked in awe at her new bedroom.
"I don't think this is the right house," she said.
Tori will continue to be monitored for any signs of cancer returning, but as of now, she has no active tumors.
"Tori is a real success story," Dr. Winesett said.
"It's been a lot for a 10-year-old to handle," Kim Bradley said. "Her new bedroom will give her something to smile about for a long time."
