For 40 years, Dream Connection’s volunteer board members have arranged special moments for more than 1,100 kids with life-threatening conditions.
Story by Susan Alexander | Photography courtesy of Dream Connection
Appeared in Cityview Magazine, Vol. 42, Issue 4 (July/August 2026)
What’s it take to arrange a meeting with Seth Curry? Let Beth Milam tell us. Milam, current board president of the Dream Connection, was one of two dream captains who set out to contact Curry, a star of the Golden State Warriors, when a child here in East Tennessee expressed a dream to meet him.
“I tried to reach out to all of his handlers,” Milam remembers. No luck. “I contacted the home office of the Warriors.” Nada. She learned that Curry’s aunt lives in Charlotte, N.C., and reached out to her. But the aunt had agreed to protect Curry’s privacy and wouldn’t forward a message. “I got on Facebook and Instagram and asked if anyone had a connection, and someone on Facebook had a connection with Dominique Wilkins, a former Atlanta Hawks basketball star who is the broadcaster for the team.” The Warriors would be playing the Hawks in Atlanta soon. Perhaps Wilkins would relay a message to Curry.
“And that’s how it happened,” Milam says.
Curry is just one of the celebrities that kids in the Dream Connection’s 16-county coverage area have asked to meet. Michael Jordan was a challenging request. So were President George W. Bush and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But eventually all three meetings happened. So have many trips to Disney World and Universal Studios. One recipient asked for and received a dozen pairs of Nike athletic shoes in a rainbow of colors. Another child got to feed the polar bears at a zoo in Alaska. And another swam with the sharks.
For 40 years, Dream Connection’s volunteer board members have reached out and arranged special moments for more than 1,100 kids with life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions. One hundred percent of the nonprofit’s funds, raised through its annual gala, grants and donations from other community organizations, go to making dreams come true.
A simple start
The Dream Connection got its start in 1985 when B.J. Price, then an employee with AT&T, learned about a kid with a serious illness who wanted to go to California to visit his grandmother. Price wanted to help, but found the cost of setting up a nonprofit and paying the associated attorney fees prohibitive. Someone recommended he pay a visit to attorney Farrell Levy. Levy liked the concept and handled the red tape at no cost. The Dream Connection was officially established in October of that year. Levy has been a board member ever since.
Up to 25 volunteers serve on the board, including at least one medical professional, and an advisory board stands by to help when needed. Though many Dream Connection recipients are treated at Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital, the nonprofit is not associated with that or any medical facility.
On average, the Dream Connection fulfills about 25 dreams a year for kids ages 3 to 18. “A child is never turned down who qualifies,” Levy says. Most recipients are referred to the nonprofit by a doctor or social worker. Each recipient must be medically approved. The child and their parents are interviewed by the board. Once the dream is requested, a team of two dream captains get to work to make it happen. They tap whatever resources they can find; a recent dream to meet the Blue Angels came about when they learned a hospital social worker had been to a wedding with someone who knew one of the pilots.
Something special
Dr. Mary Palmer, a pediatrician at Children’s, has served on the board for 35 years. Occasionally through her work in the hospital’s emergency room, she has met and recommended a child for a dream. Those memories — and the emotions that accompany them — stick with her through the years.
She recalls one little boy who asked for a trip to the Orlando amusement parks. His trip was scheduled down the road until until his school principal alerted the board that his condition was worsening. They put together a rushed trip and the family flew to Florida. When Palmer went to the airport to meet them upon their return, she was met by the school principal and about 20 members of the community. “It illustrated for me how important these dreams are — for the whole community. Families and those who love them undergo a lot with a cancer diagnosis. These dreams are like a sigh of relief.”
She remembers another young man who asked for a trip to Europe to meet a favorite author. But before his dream, he asked that another patient, a little girl he met at the hospital, receive hers first. Months later, his mother called. They had met the girl and her family on the sidewalk walking a beautiful dog. That dog was her dream come true.
“Every dream is different,” Palmer says, “an expression of something that’s special for a child. The families benefit too because they’re also looking for hope. For whatever keeps us moving forward.”
Lauren Stansbury is a recent addition to the Dream Connection board, but before that her son was a recipient of a dream. Cooper, now 10, was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma in 2019. He underwent treatment at Children’s and asked for a trip to Orlando as his dream. But the addition of twins to the family delayed the trip until 2024.
“I knew when I got back that I wanted to get involved,” Cooper’s mom says, “so I manage the social media. They supported us through one of the hardest parts of our lives. That dream gave my son so much joy. I want to help create that for other families.
An engineer’s dream
Surely one of the most unique dream requests came from Sam Warren. Sam was being treated for leukemia at age 4 when he learned someone wanted to make a dream come true for him. “It was kind of like I was in a movie or a fairy tale or something,” he remembers. “I was given this amazing huge gift of anything in the world I wanted.”
His request? A Rainbow vacuum cleaner. Clearly his engineer’s brain was already at work, wanting to know how the machine worked. “I remember the incredible feeling that came with being able to hold and use the thing I’d been fixated on for so long.”
Warren, now a 30-year-old, leukemia-free engineer living in Nashville, spoke at the Dream Connection’s 40th anniversary gala in April. “It’s such an amazing thing that it even exists and that so many people volunteer and give and want to help kids and their families. It made me realize I want to be a part of it and support it more. We don’t have a cure for everything but we can find a way to help families.”
Husband-and-wife team Marcos and Ramsey Garza are both board members. Ramsey is also board treasurer. “Marcos joined first, and he inspired me with the stories he tells.”
The work the Dream Connection continues to inspire her. “To see how happy these kids are; there’s no way to describe it. We just want them to have good memories, and the families too. We just want them to be kids.”
To apply for a dream, support the work they do or learn more, go to dreamconnection.org. ◆
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