Last January 1, Gregg Dodd of Columbus, Ohio woke up and decided he was going to do 52 things for the new year. Number seventeen on the list was ‘making a wish come true'.

"Around the holidays you start hearing about all these families in need, so I started keeping an eye open on what sort of ways I could help," he said.

With 200 people buying gift cards and sending cash donations, with totals reaching an estimated $5,000, he said, "I'm not sure if they know that magnitude of what's going to happen."

Let's hope there is an update after the family gets their surprise.

(READ the story from ABC-8)

Story tip from Kelly Harrington / Photo from Gregg Dodd