Coronavirus cancels Carlson family cruise

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - The Carlson family has spent the last week at home, hanging out and going on horse rides. But before the coronavirus outbreak, they had the trip of a lifetime planned.

Last year, the family spent countless hours making and selling toffee to fund a cruise of the Mexican Riviera with their mother, Cally, who is suffering from brain cancer.

In December, the ELF Project presented the family with a $10,000 check for their trip. Everything was set and the family was supposed to be on the cruise this week, but another coronavirus cancelation washed that plan away. 

"You know, we weren’t that surprised, we kind of were expecting that to come," Cally said of the cancelation. "We were kind of glad that they were making the decision for us - a little bit - because it was also that we were going to go no matter what, but also maybe wondering if this is a bad idea." 

The Carlsons received a full refund plus an additional credit. Cally and her husband John said they still have every intention of setting sail when the pandemic is over. 

"We don’t really want to go down to Mexico during the summer," John said. "We’re both gingers and so just to be out in the boiling heat, we don’t want to do that ... Banana Boat would get rich off of the sunscreen." 

Now, the family is looking at rescheduling to Thanksgiving. Cally is just hoping her health can hold until then.

"Right now, it’s okay. I’m starting radiation in a couple of weeks," she said. "The last MRI I had showed some growth and so we’re getting a little more aggressive with it, with fighting this. But we’ve done this treatment before and have done well in it before, so we’re expecting to continue."

The family is reflecting on the time they spent in the kitchen and looking for the silverlings of their current situation in the meantime. 

"We’ve been able to do some projects we wanted to do, a flowerbed that I’ve wanted to have in for a really long time, we had that put in, which we wouldn’t have done otherwise," Cally explained. "I do believe that just about everything in the world has a silver lining. If you’re looking for it, it’s there.”