By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
After a bumpy parking job that brought much needed giggling, Madalyn Zalac opened the minivan door to wheel her younger sister, Alayna, the Warrior Princess, onto the red carpet.
At first site, the cow in the front yard might have seemed a bit odd, but when Alayna saw the paparazzi she knew something special was going on. Something just for her.
Cameras flashing, video rolling and the growing crowd cheering, the Zalacs ascended their driveway past farm animals, friends and family to the welcoming choir.
Sporting a pink feather boa and a princess tiara, the diva was ready for her wish. The Michigan Make A Wish Michigan knew it too, and awarded Alayna the Warrior Princess award for being a local hero and inspiration to the Lake Orion families she has touched.
The smile she gave the crowd will be remembered forever. She had finally done it. 13-year-old Alayna Zalac is truly famous.
On Thursday, Nov. 6 Make A Wish Michigan organized a wish for Alayna, and brought the Magic Kingdom to Browning Dr. in the Keatington subdivision of Orion Township.
That’s where all that moo-ing came from. Upland Hills Farm of Addison Township was summoned to bring their finest farm fare, including a dairy cow, a young calf, a sheep, chicken, bunnies, kittens and a billy goat named Pearl who stood on a wooden crate.
Later in the afternoon, Premier Animal Attractions Inc. of the Flint area, brought an array of exotic animals for all to view, including eight-month-old Ruby the red kangaroo, Dusty the fennec fox, a tortoise, and a large lizard the Warrior Princess wasn’t too keen for.
I t was the perfect wish, according to one of Alayna’s best friends, Kailey Carrier, an eighth grader at Oakview Middle School in Lake Orion. Carrier has been one of Alayna’s closest friends since grade school.
‘She is absolutely in love with animals, cats, dogs, anything that lives and breathes. That’s Alayna,? Carrier said.
Photo Booth Plus from Ann Arbor set up a photo-shoot area for Alayna and her friends that printed polaroid pictures on the spot. Fancy Faces painter Tiffany Payne turned any blank face into a beautiful canvas.
All in all, Alayna’s Magical Kingdom did not go unnoticed to onlookers as a trail of Alayna’s closest friends and family escorted her to each farm animal happily munching hay on the front lawn.
‘No matter what we did, Alayna had to be the diva,? Make A Wish coordinator Lauren Singer said. ‘Her family said she loves being the center of attention, so we blew up her picture and hung it, and that she has always loved animals. The idea was to bring the Magic Kingdom to Alayna and we found every kind of animal that could possibly come here,? she said.
Without speaking, Alayna connected to the llamas, the kittens, the puppies, head to head, heart to heart. It was like watching an animal whisperer the way her eyes lit up. The smile that stretched so happily across her face was a reminder to enjoy each moment for everyone who witnessed Alayna that day.
‘I am really impressed with the kids, how much they have stuck by her,? Teri Huff, Alayna’s mother, said. ‘It was very overwhelming pulling up to the driveway, but if you saw Alayna’s face, she immediately looked like, ‘oh ya, that’s for me,?? she said.
Alayna has been all over the news ever since her return home earlier this spring from Mott’s Children Hospital in Ann Arbor.
She has been featured on Channel 4 WDIV, TV20 Detroit, as well as in the local papers including The Review and the Oakland Press. Orion Neighborhood Television has also aired multiple stories on Alayna too, including coverage from the 2013 Concert for Alayna.
But it’s not the press that has made Alayna’s story famous. It is the local connections that have been made, the name Warrior Princess that many community members have come to associate with Alayna’s battle, the contributions and community support that have made great things happen at home.
Alayna was diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 2013. She went into remission several months later. However severe side effects from the chemotherapy caused her to be paralyzed from the neck down. Upon hearing this, Lake Orion came together and raised over $60,000 to help build a first-floor accessible room for Alayna, her new medical equipment and other accommodations in her Lake Orion home.
Multiple events have raised money for the Zalac’s needs, including community concerts, a 24-Hour Bring Alayna Home Campaign, Dine 2 Donate events, t-shirt sales, and individual donations.
Now that her leukemia has returned, the community support is overwhelming. Her family has elected not to pursue further treatment.
‘One of the amazing things is most of the stuff you see here is donated, or from people just taking their time out of the day to do it for free,? Make A Wish coordinator John Fergus said.
Fergus and Singer are medical students who attend the Beaumont School of Medicine at Oakland University. Both students signed up with Make A Wish about a year ago to be family correspondents.
‘All of our visits have had no emphasis on medicine or treatments or on Alayna’s condition. It’s always about what she wants or what the family needs. We are trained to be doctors, so we see the medical part, but we never see the personal part. So for Lauren and I this is something very special,? he said.
For community members like Dawn Priebe, who helped organize the Concert for Alayna with her daughter Jackie in 2013, the Make A Wish event fit perfectly with Alayna’s heroic story.
‘The community has been following her for so long they are going to want to know how she is,? she said. ‘She loves seeing herself in the paper. She always wanted to be famous, that was her wish, and she wanted to do something with animals. It was just perfect,? she said.