CLEVELAND — Maximus Sniezek, 6, has been battling a rare genetic disorder since birth.

His mother, Heather Sniezek, said they weren’t sure if he would live after birth. It’s a condition that has no name and he’s the only person in the world known to have it.

What You Need To Know

  • Six year old Maximus Sniezek has a rare genetic disorder that qualified him for a wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation

  • Wishes like this made possible by donors like Bill Smith who raises money for the foundation so that kids in Ohio can get their wishes granted 

  • Maximus and his family went to Disney, and they hold on to those memories 

“He has partial trisomy 13 and partial trisomy 15. So his diagnoses that come from that, he has autism and then he has epilepsy that is not responding well to medication,” Sniezek said.

Maximus’s disorder qualified him for a wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. These wishes are made possible by donors such as Northeast Ohioan, Bill Smith, who’s been raising money for the foundation since 2017.

“Our goal is that we can do our part and literally rally any of our supporters, our local organizations and sponsors and donors to step up and join us in this mission to raise as much money as we can for the Make-A-Wish Foundation,” Smith said.

Maximus’s wish was to go to Disney World and Heather said that the foundation took care of every detail. Smith and his team raised over $370,000 this year alone, which granted 37 wishes for kids in Ohio. Smith said that each year they want to do a little more, and that everyone needs hope.

“To be able to just see what our efforts do is just, it’s hard to put words to it,” Smith said.

Sniezek said her son’s biggest wish was to hug Mickey Mouse, but hugging isn’t something that Maximus did much of prior to the trip.

“He hugged Mickey and then he hugged Goofy and he hugged Donald and Buzz LightYear and the really cool part was he then hugged us and he hugged his siblings,” Sniezek said. 

She said Maximus still faces challenges, but that he’s doing things like walking, talking and riding a bike, all things they were told he wouldn’t be able to do. Sniezek expressed how grateful she is for the memories from the wish trip, the hugs and for donors like Smith, who made the trip possible.

“We get to hug him on those really hard days and that’s beautiful, and that’s happened because of his wish and because of his wish trip,” Sniezek said.