'It's A Lifetime Dream'

TAMPA - Fourteen-year-old Iisha Paxton couldn't hide the joy in her eyes.

The girl's speech has been mangled since a round of meningitis, one of many trials in her young life - the worst, a malignant brain tumor, her mother said.

So Tuesday, when Tampa Fire Rescue presented her and her parents with an all-expense-paid trip to Disney World, Iisha squealed and hugged everyone around her.

She clutched her mother, Carletta, and father, Terrence, then fire investigator Al Alcala, who organized the trip. Then five teenage girls from the softball team Alcala coaches at Gaither High School, who bought Iisha balloons and Dora the Explorer treats.

She even stepped off her porch on West Waters Avenue to squeeze a TV cameraman filming the exchange.

"Thank you!" she burst out.

It was all Carletta Paxton could do not to cry. "It's a lifetime dream," she said. "I can't wait to see the look on her face."

Alcala first met the Paxtons last month during a city-sponsored "Day of Caring" with the United Way. While checking door-to-door whether residents had smoke detectors, he found Carletta Paxton and Iisha at home and was struck by the mother's quiet strength.

The Paxtons said they learned of Iisha's tumor after a seizure that lasted for hours when she was 5 years old. At the time, doctors predicted she had six months to live.

"She's fought for nine years," her mother said. "I thank God and I pray, and she's still here."

The tumor is inoperable, Carletta Paxton said. Iisha has undergone chemotherapy and radiation, but there is nothing more to be done. Her family takes each day as it comes.

"She's our only child," she said. "We just make her as comfortable as we can."

The Make-A-Wish Foundation gave the family a Disney vacation when Iisha first became ill, but she was so sick from her treatments she couldn't enjoy it, her mother said.

Alcala thought the family should have another chance to "spend some time together and make some everlasting memories," he said.

He and his co-workers raised more than $1,300 for the three-day trip, which includes accommodations and spending money. The Buccaneers also have invited the family to spend a day with the team and eat lunch with Iisha's favorite player, Ronde Barber, on Nov. 30, Alcala said.

Carletta Paxton said the kindness means everything. The family receives some government benefits and both parents work - Carletta Paxton took a part-time job last month at the Courtyard Marriott as a server - but they still struggle to make ends meet.

The girl's monthly growth-hormone shots alone cost $3,000. "She weighs 93 pounds and is still dropping weight," she said.

Tuesday, as firefighters took Iisha and her father for a ride in their truck, Carletta Paxton thanked Alcala and the teenagers.

"You guys take life and take it to the plus," she told the girls.

When Iisha returned, the child mumbled something only her parents understood. "No, we can't go to Disney World just yet. Next week," Carletta Paxton said, hugging her and laughing.