Serena's Song brings 'piece of magic' to fest

Dennis and Donna Zink's daughter, Lauren, is permanently bound to a wheelchair.

The 20-year-old from Aurora has seizure disorders and uses a feeding tube. She cannot walk. She cannot talk. She can't even roll over.

But one day each year she can fly.

Every July since around 1994 Lauren's parents have taken her to Lisle's Eyes to the Skies festival, where Gary Waldman, a retired teacher from Cushing, Iowa, welcomes her with a big grin and his prized creation: the world's first wheelchair-accessible hot-air balloon.

"Eyes to the Skies is our longest-running continuous balloon event," he said. "When we hit the ground in Lisle it's all about smiles. It's like a family reunion."

Waldman's balloon is named Serena's Song in honor of his own daughter, Serena, a 27-year-old quadriplegic with cerebral palsy.

For the first two years of her life, the severely brain-damaged Serena hardly showed any expression due to frequent seizures.

So one can only imagine how her father felt in 1985 when he saw Serena laugh for the first time in a hot-air balloon.

"That was quite a piece of magic," he said. "We had about 12 people helping to crew the balloon that day and when we brought her back down she was squealing and laughing and all 12 crew people were crying."

His daughter's happiness inspired Waldman to bring more smiles and laughter into the world by building Serena's Song. The balloon, which flies tethered about 70 to 80 feet in the air, first took flight in 1991.

And a few years later Lauren Zink took her first flight.

"Lauren was so excited when she went up that day," Dennis Zink said. "I was more impressed with the people, and what they were trying to do for the handicapped kids. It was just really uplifting."

Since that first flight with her dad, Lauren has gone up in the balloon with many people who are close to her, including her grandmother, aunt, cousin and nurse. Each ride has left a lasting impact.

"It's the chance of a lifetime," Dennis said. "How many kids can go up in a handicap-accessible balloon?"

Her mother remembers one time when Lauren was experimenting with a communication device from Easter Seals and a remarkable thing happened.

"She kept hitting the pictures with the hot-air balloons," she said. "They said, 'Is that what you like?' and she'd hit the picture again. So she makes her wishes known."

Even those with no direct connection to the disabled who ride on Serena's Song have felt its heartwarming impact, including Eyes to the Skies Chairman Roger Leone.

"It really is great," he said. "We get lines for it. You have to see it to understand it and get the emotional feel for it. We love having them and they look forward every year to coming too."

Serena's Song cost $32,000 to construct, but now the most expensive part of owning the balloon, Waldman said, is just moving it around the country for thousands of kids to fly in.

However, guests who come to the festival to float around in the balloon can do so free of charge.

"We fly the kids in this balloon because it gives us the opportunity to talk with the parents and very often these parents are under a great deal of stress," Waldman said. "I am able to step forward and say 'I know about your stress and I know about your pain and I know about your sorrow. Now let's get out here and have some fun with these kids.'"

"And many times it's like a light bulb going off - it's not the end of the world, it's just a different world."

Waldman and the balloon's pilot, Phil Gray, have flown about 1,000 families at the Lisle's Eyes to the Skies festival alone, and more than 25,000 families nationwide over 20 years.

"We always love going to Gary's trailer because you open it up and there are pictures of Lauren from the first years," Donna said. "You open up the trailer and it's wall to wall pictures from all over the United States. It's amazing."

But Waldman doesn't consider the numbers or pictures of all the people he has flown to be the biggest accomplishment rising from Serena's Song.

"The real story isn't my partner and I, or this balloon," he said. "The real story is parents and their dealing with their children."

The Zinks, on the other hand, have endless good things to say about Waldman and Gray.

"It's a wonderful thing that somebody is doing this and has nothing in it but wanting to make these kids happy," Donna said. "These people are like family now."

"They are really, really special that day," she added about the disabled kids who get to fly in Serena's Song. "It's not people staring at them like they're different. Suddenly they're little VIPs up in that balloon."

All children and adults with disabilities are welcome to reserve a free tethered ride on Serena's Song at seaspar.org. Flights will be offered Friday through Sunday at 6 to 7:30 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to dusk, weather permitting.

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<li><a href="/story/story/?id=390814">Shriners always a highlight in Lisle's July Fourth parade<span class="date">[06/30/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=390545">Lisle's Eyes to the Skies gets early start<span class="date">[06/30/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=390552">Lisle's Eyes to the Skies community festival<span class="date">[06/30/10]</span></a></li>

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