Ailing 7-Year-Old Becomes Rock Star for a Day

Jasna Hodzic / The Chronicle

Kassaundra Ramirez of San Jose gets her hair styled by C.J. Acosta before the premiere of the music video for her song.

Everyone has played this game: If you had only one wish, what would it be?

For Kassaundra Ramirez of San Jose, the question was no game.

The 7-year-old knew what she wanted. And on
Friday, her wish came true.

"Kassaundra! Kassaundra! Whoo!!! We love you, Kassaundra!!"

Screaming paparazzi shouted their love and snapped photos as the slender little girl with a feather in her coiffed hair emerged, glittering in beads and a ruffled dress, from a stretch limousine to walk a red carpet into San Francisco's Grand Hyatt Hotel.

She was there to premiere a music video of her original song, "Butterfly Don't Fly Away," and to hold a news conference in a ballroom packed with fans and media. Six bodyguards in sunglasses surrounded her.

"This is the most wonderful thing!" shouted Richard Ceely of San Francisco, one of the multitude who had heard about Kassaundra on TV and showed up at the hotel to see her. "How can you not show up for a little girl battling cancer?"

Kassaundra doesn't have cancer. She has cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that required surgery when she was 2 days old. At 5 months she nearly died, but today she wears a pacemaker, plays softball and swims.

A social worker at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto told Kassaundra's mother, Karina Gomez, about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children ages 2 to 18 with life-threatening conditions. Some want to visit Disneyland or foreign countries. Some want to meet the president. Some want gifts; others want to give gifts.

Gomez, who has a tattoo of Kassaundra's heart and pacemaker on her left arm, saw her own wish come true as Kassaundra survived her surgeries and thrived. But she thought her daughter could use a fairy godmother of her own.

Can't stop dancing

The little girl, who at home can't stop singing and dancing in front of mirrors, bugging her older sisters to distraction, didn't hesitate when her mother asked what her wish would be.

"She said, 'I want to be famous!' " Gomez said.

And so she was.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation - and several generous people and organizations, including the San Francisco Police Department, which sent eight motorcycle cops to escort Kassaundra's limo with blaring fanfare - made it happen.

Gymboree provided a shopping spree for the star. Vocal coach Leslie Noel gave her voice lessons. Photographer Gina Staffiery took headshots for the cover of Kassaundra's new CD. And DJ Joe Barham helped with her recording session in the studio of KSAN. Clean White Lines recorded her video, and the Hyatt Embarcadero put up Kassaundra's parents and siblings at that hotel.

But that was only the beginning.

Before her debut, Kassaundra had her hair and makeup done at Diva International on Market Street.

Throngs of fans

Later, Kassaundra was poised as she made her way through the throngs of fans, who consisted not only of those who saw the story on the TV news, but also employees of companies contributing to Make-A-Wish and other supporters.

The ballroom was standing room only. Fans cheered and shouted her name as she arrived, waving, with her parents and foundation officials. At the dais she sat on a booster seat.

"Are you ready for the world premiere of 'Butterfly Don't Fly Away'?" cried master of ceremonies Liam Mayclem, host of KPIX's "Eye on the Bay" show, as the crowd cheered.

The room darkened, and for the first time Kassaundra watched herself in a garden singing, baby-voiced and sweetly, the song she and Noel had written together the night before.

As the lights lifted, Kassaundra melted into tears. Photographers rushed in to capture the emotional moment as her mother bent over her, and her father, Javier Ramirez, watched with concern.

Real celebrities love the limelight.

Kassaundra then turned her head toward the audience, opened her eyes and smiled.

"I'm your biggest fan!" a woman shouted during the question period. "I want to know, do you have a lucky charm?"

"Yes," Kassaundra said. "My mom and my dad, and my bear, CC.