She was told she was going for ice cream, after yet another hospital stay.
So you can only imagine how surprised Bella Arcand, 11, was when she was greeted at the door of the Dairy Queen in Saskatoon’s Rosewood neighbourhood and shuttled to the back for a big surprise.
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Not only has Bella been selected to attend an upcoming Toronto Blue Jays game, she will be throwing out the first pitch.
The news was received with a home run reaction from Arcand, who couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear.
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“I think she was really surprised, I don’t think she saw it coming,” said DQ general manager Annette Klassen.
When she was younger, Arcand’s mother said Bella liked playing baseball but after requiring surgery she had to put her pastime on hold until this year.
“She has Rasmussen’s encephalitis, which is a seizure disorder, so she was suffering between 40 to 60 seizures a day and the only cure is a hemispherotomy, which is to disconnect and remove large portions of – in her case the right hemisphere,” said Bella’s mother, Bev Lafond.
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The procedure was in 2013 and the seizures have come back despite a second surgery Lafond said.
“I love seeing these happy moments happen for her and especially trying to give her some semblance of normalcy.”
Bella will be joined by her sister Ava and her mother for her trip of a lifetime and will throw out the first pitch Aug. 9 when the Blue Jays take on the Tampa Bay Rays.
Out of 12 foundations across the country, Bella is the one and only child selected to head to Toronto.
“Dairy Queen came to all the foundations across Canada to nominate a child that we felt would really represent Canadian kids across the country that have had to spend in the hospital,” said Jana Len, with the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan.
“She’s an amazing girl so it’s pretty incredible that we that we receive this opportunity from Dairy Queen Canada and the Blue Jays.”
Bella said she’ll need to practice that perfect pitch so she’ll to be ready for the big day.
“A lot with uncle Chris,” Bella said with a laugh.
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