Tuesday, November 16, 2004
HUBBARD -- Sarah Rose Clark was one tired 8-year-old Monday evening, but getting her friend a ride in a Wienermobile was well worth it.
"It was pretty cool," Sarah Rose said after traveling with Travis Sittig to Akron Children's Hospital, where he is being treated for leukemia.
Travis got the ride in the Oscar Mayer Co.'s bright-colored vehicle after Sarah Rose, a third-grader at Roosevelt Elementary School, entered a company essay and poster contest.
She was the only winner in Ohio this year as the company selects one winner from each state each year.
"I didn't think it would happen. It was worth it," Sarah Rose said.
Travis, a second-grader at Roosevelt, couldn't make the class party earlier this year because of his illness.
Sarah Rose's mother, Linda Clark, said Travis was diagnosed in May with leukemia and then Sarah Rose saw the Oscar Mayer contest on television.
It just so happened that Sarah Rose's father, Daniel, collects Wienermobile memorabilia and checked out the contest on the Internet.
"I'd like to do this for Travis because he missed the party," Mrs. Clark said her daughter told her.
Contest entry
In June, Sarah Rose entered the contest. She wrote:
"Take my friend Travis for a ride. Travis missed our school picnic because he has cancer and was in the hospital getting treatments.
"I think a cookout with his class would make him happy and forget about his pain. We all want him to come back to school next year."
In September, the Clarks, of Woodland Avenue, were notified that Sarah Rose had won.
"Never in a million years," Mrs. Clark responded when asked if she thought Sarah Rose had a chance of winning. "We were so surprised."
Oscar Mayer actually has six Wienermobiles that respond to contest winners. Sarah Rose was selected out of about 70,000 entries.
Monday morning, the Wienermobile drivers, or "hotdoggers," picked up Sarah Rose; her brother, 4-year-old Nathan; and Travis, son of Charles and Anna Sitting of Collar-Price Road, for the ride to Akron.
Travis had blood work completed, but the hospital decided to keep him and he was unable to make it to his party at Gallery Catering on East Liberty Street. His classmates had gathered for the event.
Travis will receive chemotherapy for the next 31/2 years, though his cancer is in remission, Mrs. Clark said.
"It has just been a wonderful experience," Mrs. Clark said.
Because of medical costs on the Sittigs, T-shirts are being sold at Roosevelt and a fund has been established at Seven Seventeen Credit Union.
yovich@vindy.com