13-year-old Fargo girl gets her wish granted

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) -A Fargo 13-year-old, who was diagnosed with cancer, is having her wish come true.

She’ll be putting on her Lei and Hula skirt and will soon be heading to Hawaii.

Her principal even made the special announcement during Discovery Middle’s girl’s basketball game.

“You and your family are going to Hawaii for one whole week,” said Hunter Reinke.

It was indeed a surprise.

“I had no clue,” said Marie Hanson.

Many of her friends and family even joined in to aid in the surprise.

“The support network we’ve had the whole time along and then to see it still happening when she’s done with treatment. It’s just so amazing,” said Erika Hanson, Marie’s mom.

Marie plays on the basketball team at Discovery Middle. She says she began noticing changes in her health starting last winter.

“All basketball season I was having terrible pains in my legs and body. I thought I am probably exhausted. I never played this much basketball before, that must be what it is,” she said.

It was not exhaustion, instead, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The road to better health hasn’t always been an easy one.

“It was hard. It was a lot of you can’t do that, Marie said. “Sorry, that’s not allowed.”

Her father Chris Hanson praises her for keeping her head held high through it all.

“She’s tough. There were many days she was the tough one and my wife and I were the emotional ones,” he said.

Now given a good bill of health, she will soon be hopping on a plane to visit a place she always dreamed of.

“I’ve seen all the pictures and it just looks so fun,” said Marie.

Marie already has her mind set on what she plans to do first after touching down in Hawaii.

“Go jump into the ocean,” she said.

Marie and her family will be leaving for Hawaii on December 11.

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