HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – Thursday morning, 12-year-old Jayla Hibbler walked into Cavender’s Western Outfitter.
“I thought we were just coming shopping,” Hibbler said.
But instead of getting new garb, Hibbler got the surprise of a lifetime.
Thanks to Make-A-Wish Mississippi, Hibbler’s desire to meet her favorite artist, Morgan Wallen, came true.
This weekend, Hibbler and her family will head up to Oxford, Mississippi, to watch Wallen live in concert and meet him as well.
Cavender’s employees helped her get ready for the concert as Hibbler picked out an outfit, everything from hat to boots.
“We have 11 children in the Pine Belt (whose) wishes are waiting to be granted, and Jayla was one of them,” said Connie Keen from Make-A-Wish Mississippi.
Make-A-Wish said Hibbler was diagnosed with Stage IV Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma in November 2023.
For the past five months, she has gone through chemotherapy and radiation treatments at New Orleans Children’s Hospital.
“We’re all just really close,” said Edrick Hibbler, Jayla’s dad. “It’s been extremely difficult, like throughout the process, because we had to be separated some and we’re always together.”
Now, the family is together and ready to celebrate not just the wish but Jayla Hibbler’s future.
Her dad said earlier this week that his daughter completed her treatments.
“We’re excited for her just to be able to experience not-hospital life,” Edrick Hibbler said. “It’s like a new start, so we’re excited for her to experience that.
The Hibbler family said it now just was hoping things will start to feel normal again.
“We haven’t had a trip in a long time since all the things I’ve been going on,” Jayla Hibbler said. “We’re going to make memories with family. It feels good. It feels like life is going back to normal.”
Throughout all this, Jayla Hibbler said she wants everyone to know one thing.
“Keep going,” she said. “You may feel like you want to give up, but just keep going because you’re going to get somewhere in the end.”