Community Gives Dying Girl Best Birthday Ever

Lila May Schow has a day fit for a princess
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2015 3:45 PM CDT
Community Gives Dying Girl Best Birthday Ever
Lila May Schow   (GiveForward.com)

A community's outpouring of love and support gave a 5-year-old girl with terminal cancer a birthday/prom/wedding fitting of a princess and brought her father to tears last week in Hood River, Oregon. ABC News reports Lila May Schow was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer, three years ago. In that time, Lila visited hospitals around the country for nine surgeries and multiple rounds of chemotherapy. When doctors informed Lila's family they were out of treatment options, relatives decided to throw her a party that would help her fit in as much life as possible in the months her doctors say she likely has left, according to KATU.

A Facebook post about Lila's party brought donations from around the state. KATU reports complete strangers donated everything from food and costumed actors to a custom-made princess dress and horse-drawn carriage. And on July 31, hundreds of people arrived at an old bank building volunteers had transformed into a castle to help give Lila the best birthday/prom/wedding ever, culminating in a father-daughter dance and Lila's dad getting down on one knee and proposing to her. "It's all about making a little girl smile," he told KATU. But according to ABC News, Lila said the best part was seeing her dad cry because he was so happy. (See a recap and photos here.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X