A girl from Rosa recently received a special gift that brings her happiness.
RayAnne Walford was born with epilepsy, has cerebral palsy, and is developmentally delayed. She's in a wheelchair, and has Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFOs).
Her mom, Rachel Walford, says RayAnne is always full of joy.
“She is the happiest little girl you'll ever meet, and she is so, so funny. She's nonverbal, but so funny.”
Walford says her daughter received a very special Christmas gift.
“My sister and my niece bought her a look-alike puppet that was made locally in Steinbach by North Stream Creations. And I posted a picture of RayAnne and the puppet on Facebook, and one of my sister’s friends commented, ‘Your daughter has AFOs on, next time you go to the SSCY (Specialized Services for Youth and Children) Centre, bring the puppet.’”
They happened to be going the next day to fit her new AFOs, so they brought the puppet along.
“I showed it to Chelsea, she looked at the puppet, she looked at RayAnne’s old AFOs, and off she went. She came back, she had trimmed them and fitted them for the puppet. Just amazing. She said, ‘And this is why I love my job.’”
RayAnne is thrilled to have her puppet look just like her.
“She just wants to hug this puppet all the time. You show her the puppet and she's got her arms out. She wants to hug it all the time. She was so excited.”
Walford is very thankful to Chelsea for making RayAnne feel special.
“It just melts my heart that people are so kind to her. It's just amazing.”