CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Leukemia patient Emily Wheaton wants to become a chef, so her grandmother Alice Martin arranged for a surprise tour of Kapiolani Community College's culinary arts program facilities yesterday on her 13th birthday. Chef Ernest Hiltbrand showed her how to put some icing on a gingerbread house.
Student chefs serve
dish of loveA leukemia patient gets
a surprise luncheon and tour
for her birthday
The staff and students of a college culinary program served up a healthy serving of aloha and compassion at a surprise birthday luncheon yesterday for an ailing 13-year-old girl.
Emily Wheaton, diagnosed with leukemia in 1998 and undergoing chemotherapy, wants to become a chef, so her grandmother Alice Martin arranged for a surprise tour of the Kapiolani Community College culinary arts program's kitchens for her birthday.
It culminated with a luncheon in the Kaikena Dining Room, where Wheaton, surrounded by friends and family, opened a gift purchased by the staff and students: a chef's hat and jacket, embroidered with her name.
"Oh my God!" said the Mililani teenager, who was otherwise speechless as they buttoned the double-breasted white jacket on her and perched the hat on her head.
Carol Hosiko, dean of the program, said that after Martin called to arrange the tour, the staff and students "really took off with it. They wanted her to have her experience one of the best days she could have.
"A dream and lots of love can make a big difference in a person's healing. We wanted to give her inspiration" to get well, Hosiko said.
Martin said she was happy that Wheaton was having one of her "three or four good days a month" on her birthday so she could enjoy the surprise.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Emily put on a gift from the culinary students: a chef's coat with her name embroidered on it and a hat.
The 13 luncheon guests were "women who've bonded with her life in a beautiful way," and included relatives, teachers and therapists, she said.
Wheaton's cancer went into remission for 22 months after her first bout, but it resurfaced in August.
She has been out of school for a year and a half. Martin described her granddaughter as a fighter who does not complain, even though "she understands she could die. But there's good medicine, and she's not going to give up."
Wheaton said she wants to become a chef because "cooking is an art form, and I've always dreamed of being a famous artist. I started out with painting and drawing, but once I got into cooking (a year ago), it seemed really exciting and interesting."
She learned a lot from the tour, and it "made me want to become a chef even more. I see how much fun it is," Wheaton said.
Wheaton also picked up hints on building gingerbread houses that won't collapse from patisserie chef Ernest Hiltbrand. She said she is especially fond of baking pastries because she can really let her artistic talents fly.
Martin said her granddaughter likes to watch the Food Network and "practices (her dishes) on us, but quite often she won't eat what she cooks. She is the pickiest eater I've ever seen! We tease her, 'You have to taste your own cooking someday.'"
Wheaton originally asked for a Ronco Rotisserie for her birthday present so she could make a turkey for her family's Thanksgiving dinner.
But she got the surprise of her life instead. "I didn't expect this," she said.
