Lauderhill boy with heart disease gets pilot wish at Miami airport

An 11-year-old Lauderhill boy with heart disease spent a day at Miami International Airport after Make-A-Wish Southern Florida turned his wish to become an airline pilot into a private aviation experience. Ryan McKenzie arrived by limousine, then toured the concourse and hangars, sat inside a cockpit and tried a flight simulator.

The June 23 outing gave Ryan a setting that matched the dream he has carried for years. His mother, Sherika Coley, said he has long loved airplanes, even though he cannot see well, and said he notices aircraft and reacts to them. She said airplane is one of the words that always lights him up, a small detail that has clearly carried weight in a family living with a serious medical condition.

Meredith Morris, a Make-A-Wish representative, said the moment Ryan stepped out of the limousine and saw everything around him was deeply moving. The day was built around access and immersion, not distance: a child from Broward County was brought into the parts of the airport most travelers never see, including the work spaces, the cockpit and the simulator, so the wish felt real rather than symbolic.

Make-A-Wish Southern Florida says its chapter was founded in 1983 by the Plantation Junior Woman’s Club and has granted more than 15,000 wishes. That history matters in Broward, where the organization’s roots run through Plantation even when a wish takes place elsewhere in South Florida. Ryan’s experience showed how that network reaches across county lines, connecting donors, volunteers and airport personnel to a single child’s day.

For Ryan and his family, the visit was more than a special outing. It was a chance to place him inside the future he has imagined, and to give his parents a memory that reflected his interests, his determination and the support system around him.