MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – There are 285 children in Alabama waiting for their wishes to be granted. Eighth-grader Kadence Hand is the latest to have her wish granted. She wanted to take a trip to Hawaii, and that’s exactly where she’s headed.

Kadence has a life-threatening disorder, but you wouldn’t know it if you saw her. She has cystic fibrosis, a disease that causes thick mucus to clog certain organs such as the lungs, pancreas, and intestines. It is also capable of causing malnutrition, poor growth, frequent respiratory infections, breathing problems, and chronic lung disease

If the mucus builds up in her organs, it could kill her. Her parents say it’s an everyday battle.

“When she first gets up in the morning, she has a ten-minute vest treatment. She has to do a vest that looks like a life preserver, and it kind of beats, and knocks, and bangs up and down, up and down, and it breaks up mucus that builds up on the lungs, which is a part of cystic fibrosis,” said Kadence’s mother, Katie Hand.

Just three decades ago, the average person with cystic fibrosis would live only to the age of 30, but now life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis can live up until the age of 50. She says she hopes the technology will grow and help people like her live a long life.

“As I grow, I believe technology will grow and so possibly there could be a cure further on, and that would help me and so many other people with cystic fibrosis just continue life normally,” said she said.

Kadence also shared an inspirational message for those with her diagnosis.

“Just know that it doesn’t get worse. Everything’s going to be okay, and the further technology advances the better the cures are. We already have Trikafta and Symdeko, so I’m sure that technology will continue to advance. You’ll be okay.”

Kadence told News 19 that she wants to be a psychiatrist so she can help other kids just like her when she grows up.