Yesterday, a fairytale unfolded in the heart of America. Wearing a pink dress, 7-year-old Kathleen Edward was picked up from her home in Lincoln Park, Mich. by a white stretch Hummer limo with “Team Kathleen” written on the side. Escorted by the local police, she was driven to the coolest toy store in town, where she was welcomed by a crowd toting handmade signs, flashing cameras and cheering as they threw red rose petals at her feet. Velvet ropes guided her along a plush red carpet into Tree Town Toys.
Why did she receive such royal treatment? Let’s just say Edward didn’t win a contest, and her dad isn’t a millionaire. Having recently lost her mother as well as her grandfather to Huntington’s disease, a rare and hereditary brain disorder, the young girl faces her own death daily with the same prognosis. She did so with grace and courage until a neighbor maliciously bullied her on the Web by Photoshoping a skull and cross bones over her face and posting it on Facebook. Additional harassment included a picture of her late mother being held by the Grim Reaper. A Detroit television station reported the reason for the attack was personal conflict with the girl’s grandmother.
Any excuse seems unthinkable, but no one could have predicted what the result would be. Made aware of Edward’s situation by the public taunting, the local and international community jumped to her aid. Emails came pouring in from China, Australia and Sweden, and flowers for the family came from as far as Pakistan. In her own backyard, a local toy store owner, who had also been bullied as a kid, led a campaign that raised more than $17,500. Some of the money went to support Edward’s medical costs and her family, and the rest was used to make a dream come true.
Thursday, when Edward stepped into a palace of toys, welcome signs and a three-tier pink cake awaited her. The owner told Edward that she could have anything in the store she wanted. The first thing she took was a frog for dad because she knows he likes them.
“She’s the most caring person in the world,” her father told the Daily Record. She filled up her cart with dolls and dollhouses, and gifts for her younger sisters who couldn’t be there. “She always smiles, but I’ve never seen her smile like this,” said Edward’s grandmother.
Accompanied by her friends and family, she played freely 
throughout the store, then turned her heart to others like her. The rest of the money was donated to C.S.Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan to be used to buy toys for kids who also have Huntington’s disease.
There are some things in life you just can’t change and some diseases that don’t go away in a day, but there are others you can, like keeping the spirits high of a young girl who faced hatred with love.
View these beautiful photos from the event!!!
Photos via Facebook.