Tracy City 6th Grader with MD is Honored Guest at White House

The wheelchair bound sixth grader with Muscular Dystrophy will be an honored guest at the White House Thursday night. It's a dream come true for the 11 year old.

"I just told him he could be anything he wanted to be because there was a president that was in a wheelchair. And he said "really?" And I said "yeah." And he grinned from ear to ear and ever since then I've called him Mr. President," says Kory's bus driver Donna Caldwell.

Caldwell's influence on Kory's life doesn't end there. Her daughter takes the credit for making this trip happen.  "My daughter Marissa said, 'Momma. I'm going to write the president about Kory because he deserves to go to the White House,'" explains the Grundy County bus driver.

Marissa sent an email this past summer. On Friday, she got a phone call from a White House Aide named Maude.  "She asked Marissa if she wanted to call them herself or wanted them to, and so Marissa said, 'No. I want you all to surprise them,'" Caldwell adds.

The Shorts had since Friday afternoon to make hotel reservations, airline reservations and get handicapped accessible accommodations for the family of five. Nearly everyone in Tracy City stepped up to help.  Gerald Sitz is a Vice President at Citizen's Tri-County Bank.  He arranged the airplane reservations for the Shorts.  He explains how it really was a city-wide effort.  "The community raised all of this money in 36 hours. It's about $5,000," he said Wednesday morning.

Kory's second grade teacher at Tracy City Elementary School is one of the people who stepped up. He was diagnosed at six and was already showing signs of MD in the 2nd grade.  "It's wonderful that he's able to come to school and function as well as he does," Jan Roberts said.  "We're really proud of him."

Caldwell thinks this is a great time for Kory to visit DC.  "There's a lot of people up in Washington this week that they want him to meet because of the stem cell and all that, so Kory may walk from this.  The miracle may not be from him getting to Washington and meet the president," Caldwell said Wednesday.

The Shorts get back from their trip this weekend. 

Meeting President Obama is a gift for Kory in more than one sense of the word...  Kory's 12th birthday is in just a couple of weeks.