A mom in Maine has a special request for her 9-year-old daughter, whose been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Alyssa Cole, or Lyssie, as her mom calls her, will be 10 years old in about a week.
Last winter, her family received devastating news about her health.
“We found a brain tumor on Jan. 19 and the tumor was removed March 1, and we very shortly after found out it was a terminal form of cancer,” Jamie Cole said.
Jamie Cole said that since her daughter’s diagnosis, their family has been trying their best to make it, as she puts it, the most amazing year ever.
“We took a summer-long road trip. We were blessed enough to be able to take the whole summer off. She got to go on a Make-a-Wish trip, which was phenomenal. We went to Florida. She got to meet the Beast, who’s one of her favorite characters along with Belle, who’s her absolute favorite princess,” Jamie Cole said. “Just trying to make her and our other two children as happy as possible through this awful, awful experience.”
Jamie Cole said Lyssie loves surprises.
So she’s asking for people to help her pull one off by mailing birthday cards for Lyssie to open on her 10th birthday coming up on Jan. 16.
“We were hoping that we could just flood her with birthday cards on her birthday. We are asking them to be shipped to her grandmother’s house so we can surprise her all at once on the big day,” Jamie Cole said.
Birthday cards can be mailed to Alyssa Cole, care of her grandmother, Sheri Hodgkin, at 14 Mooselook Drive in Turner, Maine, ZIP code 04282.
“It can be so isolating and little boosts of support have been what have got us through this year,” Jamie Cole said. “She has fought her whole life and now she is currently in the biggest battle of her life, and she is just a shining light and we love her so much and hope that she just continues to remain positive and happy for as long as we have her.”