Tishelle Hepa was extremely thin and, at one point, could not walk. Hepa and her uncle Phil Eliana, a Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club employee, were joined by Stacey Acma, director of Kapi‘olani Children’s Miracle Network and Philanthropy special
Tishelle Hepa was extremely thin and, at one point, could not walk.
Hepa and her uncle Phil Eliana, a Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club employee, were joined by Stacey Acma, director of Kapi‘olani Children’s Miracle Network and Philanthropy special event. Hepa took the starter’s position for the Kalapaki resort’s fourth Duckie Derby in two years, said Jolene Ogle, the resort’s employee relations coordinator, in an press release.
The Derby, which is hosted by the Kaua‘i Marriott, raises funds for the Kapi‘olani Children’s Miracle Network in Hawai‘i.
Racers designate their special duck with a donation to the network, and those racers are then shepherded to the starting gate at the top of one of the waterfalls, which cascade into the resort’s pools.
Hepa got help from one of the resort’s staff members as she manned the starting gate as a special guest of the most recent derby.
Following a year of treatment for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, Hepa, 11, is now back in school.
However, for a year, she and her mom lived at the Kapi‘olani Children’s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House on O‘ahu while she was being treated. They now make the trip to Kapi‘olani Hospital once a month for outpatient chemotherapy treatments.
For more information about the network, visit www.kapiolani.org
