Maxwell Meiborg Foundation

Dakota

Using one word to describe her 12-year old son Dakota, Rebecca chooses "remarkable."

Dakota is a loving young man who attends Roosevelt Middle School. He can be found playing video games or working on his computer. He loves school and his favorite subjects are math and writing. He enjoys writing stories that include characters based on many of his friends at school and some of the characters in his video games. When watching TV, he prefers the channel to be on Food Network because Dakota wants to be a famous chef.
Dakota has a sister names Julia who is two years younger than him. The two of them get along well and and hard to tear apart!

Dakota was 5 years old in 2005 when he first started taking trips to the University of Iowa Children's Hospitals and Clinics. He was first diagnosed with optic glioma, a tumor on his optic nerve. His tumor was also sitting on his pituitary gland which caused him to grow prematurely. This was Dakota's first experience with chemotherapy.

Then in 2008, Dakota started having knee pain. Initially, it was diagnosed as growing pains then patella tendonitis. But the pain persisted and soon moved into his back. His doctor at the University of Iowa ordered an MRI of his spine and they found a tumor.

In October, 2010, doctors surgically removed the tumor and Dakota went through seven and a half weeks of radiation. Following radiation, he endured eight months of chemotherapy for MPNST, or Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors.

In 2011, Dakota was granted a wish through the Make a Wish Foundation and he was introduced to the Maxwell Meiborg Foundation. He chose a trip to Disney World with his family. One of Dakota's favorite memories about Walt Disney World was visiting Magic Kingdom. On the first day that he was there, his family watched the Disney Lights Parade. At the end of the parade, the Fairy Godmother waved and blew kisses toward Dakota. Dakota made a heart sign back to her, and every time after that, when they watched the parade, Dakota would wave and the Fairy Godmother would wave back and make the heart sign to him. This experience made Dakota feel really special.

While Dakota has had many obstacles and dealt with more as a child than most adults will ever endure, he continues to remain "remarkable." Through everything, one will always find Dakota with a smile on his face that brightens everyone’s day.

The Maxwell Meiborg Foundation is proud to know Dakota and to help make his wish come true!

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