Family On Disney Vacation Invites Strangers to Join Them After Seeing Baby’s Heartbreaking Story

December 1, 2025

In the middle of their Disney getaway, one family saw a heartbreaking story about a baby with only weeks to live. In an act of pure kindness, they contacted his parents — total strangers — and invited them to share the magic of their vacation.

Shotwell family / Stauder family

Xaiden was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and faced enormous medical challenges from the very beginning. He underwent open-heart surgery at only six days old, then suffered a stroke that led to hydrocephalus and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Recently, doctors told the family that their time with Xaiden would be limited and urged them to take him home to create as many memories as they could. In a matter of weeks, the family went from planning Christmas vacation to facing the unimaginable — saying goodbye to their little boy.

Kelly Shotwell, a retired firefighter and paramedic from Carlisle, Ohio, saw Xaiden’s story online while vacationing with his family at Walt Disney World.

Without hesitation, he decided to bring the Stauders along.

"I had a message on my Facebook and it just said, 'Hey we're down here at Disney. If I can get you down here would that be doable for you guys?'" Alexis Stauder told WXIX.

“It just worked out,” Shotwell said. “We found flights, we found tickets, we already had the place, we got them a rental car.”

For the Stauders, a Disney trip had once felt impossible — something they dreamed of doing when their children were older.

Suddenly, through the generosity of people they’d never met, it became a reality.