HALIFAX – Five-year-old Kayla St. Laurent likes to dress up and loves to colour, but her life hasn’t been easy as she battles cancer.
On Wednesday, her musical dreams came true as she was given a violin, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Atlantic Canada. Local musicians Alan Doyle from Great Big Sea and Joel Plaskett were on hand to hear her play it for the first time.
Plaskett said he knows how music can have a positive impact on people.
“You don’t know until you put an instrument in someone’s hands what they are going to do with it,” he said, adding that Kayla looked like she had been playing the violin for years.
Kayla said she wanted the instrument because she saw somebody playing one and thought it would be fun.
Along with the violin, she will also get music lessons in her hometown of Memramcook, N.B. and have the opportunity to play alongside a youth choir in Moncton next spring.
Kayla’s mother Marie said when her daughter was diagnosed a year ago, they had a difficult time and didn’t know if she would make it this far. She said the gift they received on Wednesday was “very special” to them.
“It means a lot to our family and it means a lot to her,” she said.
Daphne Carter, CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Atlantic Canada, said the wishes they grant make a lasting impression.
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