Dominic Hamilton, a young boy from Joliet, Ill., with a cancerous brain tumor, was gifted with a visit to Eureka Springs last weekend to fulfill his wish to see a white tiger. The trip was arranged with the cooperation of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and funded by Cancer Kiss My Cooley (CKMC.org), a non-profit organization similar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“Dominic is an amazing, vibrant five-year-old boy who has so much spirit and zest it’s contagious,” Kiss of Hope coordinator Eileen Gertz said. “One can’t help but catch his spirit while in his presence.”
Gertz said in February 2017, at age three, Dominic started to exhibit odd behavior that alarmed his mom. After taking him to the emergency room, it was discovered he had a mass in his head diagnosed as medulloblastoma.
For the next year, Dominic spent more than eight months in and out of the hospital, celebrating his 4th birthday and many holidays as a patient at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. He has had stem cell procedures, radiation, chemotherapy, and recently completed his 6th week of proton therapy. His next set of scans starts in about five weeks, so the trip was arranged while he was feeling good before possibly having to go through more agonizing treatment.
Cancer Kiss My Cooley grants “Kisses of Hope” to children battling brain tumors. Gertz said A Kiss of Hope is a tailor-made experience for the child and family to capture happy moments where they can forget about hospitals and medicine for a bit and make memories that bring great joy for the patient.
“Dominic loves rainbows, unicorns, horses and tigers,” Gertz said. “His favorite animal is the white tiger. In fact, he dressed up as a white tiger for Halloween.”
Dominic arrived Nov. 30, and stayed on the property at Turpentine Creek for the weekend with his mother, Meagan Hamilton, grandmother Debbie Phillips, an aunt, uncle, and three cousins. On Saturday, Dec. 1, they were treated to a special enrichment experience and behind the scenes tour of the property.
“While the weather was not ideal, I think Dominic and his family had a great time during Tanya and Kizmin’s enrichment session, and they really enjoyed the paw painting we presented to Dominic,” TCWR Promotions Coordinator Ike Wever said. “Tanya and Kizmin are two of our youngest white tiger residents, and Dominic and his family got to experience what we call a ‘Big Cat Call-Out.’
“Using organic, egg-based paint, we create special messages on cardboard boxes for our animals to ‘deliver.’ In this case, the Big Cat Call-Out message was, ‘Kizmin and Tanya Welcome You Dominic!’ A lot of the time we also apply attractive scent enrichment – commercial perfumes or other animal scents – to the cardboard. The tigers come out and play with the boxes much like your house cat would at home; they shake them and rip them up, and if the boxes are big enough, the animals will even try to get into them. It’s just a great experience.”
Tanya and Kizmin were two of 115 animals Turpentine Creek acquired during their Colorado Project, when they took over a Colorado animal facility in September 2016. That facility’s owner had been diagnosed with cancer and needed someone to care for his animals. Thirty-four animals were ultimately relocated to Turpentine Creek during the rescue, and the rest were rehomed to reputable sanctuaries throughout the United States.
“Tanya and her sister, Kizmin, were born while TCWR associates were at the Colorado facility,” Wever said. “Their mother, who also resides at the Arkansas property, rejected them shortly after birth so TCWR associates had to properly hand-raise the cubs until they were old enough to be placed in a habitat. Tanya was named after TCWR’s president, Tanya Smith, and the duo are growing rapidly and are very playful.”
Turpentine Creek has 14 white tigers on the property. Wever said while a lot of visitors “ooh” and “aah” with excitement when they see the white tigers, a sentiment that turns to concern and advocacy for greater protections when people learn that white tigers are the product of human intervention (i.e. inbreeding) and have high captive mortality rates.