“I remember getting pulled out of school and my parents telling me we were going to Disney World,” Dollinger said. “We used part of the lottery money and stayed there for a few days and then went to the beach.”
That started a tradition for the family of four, including dad Gary Dollinger. They did a Disney and beach trip as a family every year until Dollinger was 10 years old.
“My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997,” Dollinger said. “It ran in her family, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But she was only 37 years old.”
Dollinger’s mom found a lump in her breast while painting one of her rental properties. Because of her family history, she pushed for a biopsy. Her cancer was diagnosed in the early stages.
“Mom’s doctor said it hadn’t spread so suggested a lumpectomy,” Dollinger said. “But she wanted a mastectomy. And chemotherapy.”
Dollinger describes her mother as “a warrior” who was determined to continue living and enjoying her family. After treatment she went into remission, which lasted four years. But at the five-year mark, her cancer returned. And had spread to her lungs.
“My mom worked at Wittenberg (University) as an administrative assistant for 15 years,” Dollinger said. “She loved her job and the students.”
In fact, she continued to work all through her treatment and both daughters went to school there. But eventually Cathie’s cancer spread to her brain and she left her job in the summer of 2013.
“She knew her time was limited and she wanted to stop working and live her life during the time she had left,” Dollinger said. “Dad retired in 2013.”
Her parents returned to Walt Disney World without their daughters, staying at the Polynesian Resort near Magic Kingdom. Dollinger remembers them telling her how wonderful that trip was.
“We are very family oriented,” Dollinger said. “Mon would come home from work and take us to dance practice and piano lessons and pushed through. She really wanted to live. She wouldn’t let cancer be her identity.”
On January 12, 2015, Cathie passed away. Her family, already reeling from the past year of cancer treatments, went into deep mourning. Unsure of how to overcome the loss, Dollinger said she and her sister grew closer to her dad.
“I knew I wanted to do something for her,” Dollinger said. “So, I tried running a marathon for Susan G. Koman, but I just didn’t feel like that was enough.”
Dollinger had been thinking about starting a nonprofit, but she said it seemed out of reach. But in January of last year, she started really looking hard into the possibility, talking to a local couple who had started their own organization.
“I found out the state has good resources, so I decided to do it,” Dollinger said.
Cathie’s Magical Memories became an official nonprofit in March of 2024. Today the organization has a board of seven people and a mission to send children who have lost a parent to Walt Disney World to make memories and magic with their families.
“I lost my mom when I was 27 and my sister was 24,” Dollinger said. “It was very hard. But I know the joy that being at Disney can bring you. It just helps you forget about all your troubles for a little while.”
Dollinger also remembers how much her mom loved Walt Disney World and being there with her family. And she hopes to create the same feeling for other kids and families.
“We sent our first family to Walt Disney World last summer,” Dollinger said. “We posted an application on our social media page and that’s how we found them.”
The Hopkins family had recently lost a husband and father, Donald, and the children, Donald III and Sophia, traveled to Florida with their mom, Angela Hopkins, and aunt, Michelle Hopkins-Lynn. Dollinger and her sister drove down to meet the family during that trip.
“They had a great time,” Dollinger said. “It was their first Disney trip. They had been planning one before their dad and husband passed. It was so nice to make memories with their mom and their dad’s sister.”
Dollinger says the goal going forward is to raise enough money to send a minimum of one grieving family a year to the Walt Disney World. But she hopes there will be enough to send multiple families eventually.
“I think my mom would be so proud of us and would be hugging these kids if she could,” Dollinger said. “It’s important that I help others feel the same sort of love she felt for us.”
For more information on how to support, log on to Cathiesmagicalmemories.com
About the Author
