Dream Connection grants child’s dream
There are doctors’ visits, hospital stays, injections, time away from home and tears.
Now, imagine someone comes to you and tells you there is an organization that can make your child’s dream come true, and it does. That organization is Dream Connection.
A “sold-out crowd” of Dream Connection’s supporters joined past and current dream recipients to celebrate its anniversary milestone, present the Legacy Award, raise money and reveal the 2026 dream coming true for a child during its 40th Anniversary Gala in Fox Den Country Club Thursday night, April 30.
Erecka Brown wiped away tears when Denise Rowe announced Brown’s son, Tyheim Westfield, who loves animals and dinosaurs, will be taking a trip to the San Diego Zoo in California. Along with that, Zoo Knoxville staff brought Spencer, a hyacinth macaw, and Ursula, a blue-tongued skink, to the event and the child received a bag of dinosaur toys and an inflatable dinosaur.
“It means a lot to me,” Tyheim's mother said. “It was new to me when I first had him. Everything he’s receiving is a blessing for him because he’s had to go through a lot in life, and he’s been resilient through everything.”
Tyheim, a rising fourth-grader, was born Dec. 17, 2015, with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a cranial/facial difference.
“A few days later he was receiving a [tracheotomy],” Erecka recalled. “I had to learn everything to take care of my baby.”
During the event, attendees heard from the musical group, Gas Station Sushi, and from V.I.P. guest, former University of Tennessee basketball star, John Fulkerson.
Regarding being involved with the Dream Connection, Fulkerson said, “The fact [Dream Connection] has been doing that for 40 years and what they do of helping kids when they really need it the most, I think is really important.
“And really, the amount of money these people are pouring into kids they don’t know, they haven’t met, is really a heartfelt non-profit organization,” he said.
Dream Connection is a non-profit organization providing once-in-a-lifetime dreams to East Tennessee children between the ages of 3 and 18 who have life-threatening or chronically debilitating illnesses, Dream Connection board member Christine Tamburnini said.
The organization is operated solely by a volunteer board of directors, advisory board and other concerned citizens, so 100 percent of the money raised goes to fulfill children’s dreams, said Beth Milam, Dream Connection president.
“We hope you leave this evening with a deeper understanding of our mission and what we do,” she said.
Dream Connection was founded in 1985 by Billy Joe Price, who “dreamed of creating an organization that would bring happiness and hope to local children who were facing unimaginable illnesses,” Milam related.
The organization also honored Board member and attorney Ferrell Levy, also a Rotary Club of Farragut member, with the Legacy award. Levy was the attorney Price turned to in his efforts to start the organization, and Levy has supported Dream Connection since that time.
At least three previous dream recipients were present at the event: Andi Lay, 10; Noah Sileno, 11, who was diagnosed at 3 years old with brain cancer but got a trip to Disney World; and Sam Warren, who was 5 when he received a tour of a vacuum factory. Now, he is healthy, married, in his 30s and a robotics engineer.
“I can’t really express how much [the dream] meant to us,” Warren said.
Martha Sileno said her son was diagnosed with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a fast-growing blood cancer.
“We were actually inpatient for the 41 of the 47 days that we were diagnosed,” she related, adding she met Denise Rowe, their dreammaker and volunteer, at the hospital.
“Treatment’s hard, cancer’s hard; but in the middle of that, we met up with Dream Connection.”
The trip to Disney “was absolutely amazing,” Martha said. While at Disney, “we got a phone call from our oncologist, and she said he was in remission."
“You are the reason we do what we do,” Milam told the children.
“Ted Hall, WVLT anchor, also has a special heart for this organization as well,” board member John Milam said. With emotion taking over, Warren added, “It’s amazing how much it helped me and our family, just to be able to get through that hard time.”
Hall also experienced Dream Connection’s compassion after his youngest son was diagnosed with brain cancer. He was treated to a Disney cruise compliments of Dream Connection.
Also, “I have first-hand knowledge of what Dream Connection does,” said Denise
Rowe, the mother of Ethan, then 11. “It gave our family a much needed reprieve from the hospitals, chemo and radiation … he was able to be a carefree kid.”
Ethan, however, passed away two months after his dream.
Still, “the memories we made as a family are ours forever,” Rowe said. “He told me he wanted me to become a volunteer with the Dream Connection … that’s how much the dream meant to him.”
Last Thursday night, she facilitated the trip for Tyheim Westfield.
“One such child is my new friend, Tyheim,” Rowe said. “This kid is amazing. Tyheim’s very full of life and such a happy spirit … I fell in love with him instantly.”
