People Magazine (7/4/13) by Kathy Free and Ken Lee – When a child has a dream of meeting a rodeo star or having a horse of their very own, Donnalyn Quintana of Weatherford, Texas does everything she can to make it a reality.
“Every time I come away from granting a wish, my life is changed for the better,” says Quintana, 65.
I feel that this was put into my heart for a reason.
Since 1994, Quintana has raised funds through her nonprofit Western Wishes to help more than 600 terminally ill or disabled kids. She has arranged visits with country star Reba McEntire and bull riding legend Tuff Hedeman and even bought a girl with cystic fibrosis her very own horse.
Kim Dorr says she’ll never forget what Quintana did for her five-year-old son Kaleb, who suffers from TAR Syndrome, a rare blood disorder.
“For most of his life, Kaleb’s biggest wish was to be a cowboy,” says Kim, 34 of Wagoner, OK. “Donnalyn made him her poster kid in 2011 and Kaleb got to travel all over Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada to rodeos and meet all of his cowboy heroes.”
He even got to meet Hedeman, his favorite.
“When he met Tuff, his face lit up,” she says, “and he immediately ran to him and gave him a big hug. It was one of those melt-your-heart moments. Anybody who was in that room will never forget it.” Continue reading…