Kristey Patel from Port Hope is thrilled for Grade 8 graduation, but every time she wanted to go pick out a dress, she couldn’t.
Kristey, 13, never imaged she’d be spending the majority of the year in a hospital room undergoing chemotherapy.
“Every time I was about to go, and then I needed platelets, ’cause my gums were bleeding, so I had to come to the hospital and get platelets every time,” said Kristey.
Kristey is battling a Stage 4 cancer tumour and has had to pay numerous trips to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre for chemotherapy treatments.
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“I was diagnosed August 17 with a Stage 4 tumour,” said Kristey, “and it’s been nine months.”
Kristey calls her nurse a “second mother.”
“The chemotherapy that Kristy is taking is hard on her body physically and emotionally and unfortunately it causes her hemoglobin, her platelets, and her white cells — which help protect her against infection — to go down, so it’s decreased her ability to go to school on a regular basis because she’s more prone to infections,” said nurse with the Pediatric Unit at PRHC Shay Cannon.
So, when Kristey was having a bad day on Tuesday during treatment, Cannon wanted to do something special to lift her spirits.
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“My daughter and I both shop at S.O.S., and I knew they had grad and prom dresses and so I called your shop, spoke to your manager. I told her a crazy story about where I worked, and said, ‘Is there any way we can help this kid and give her a good day?” she said.
The owner of Peterborough’s S.O.S. Save Our Soles retail shop, Shelby Leonard-Watt, delivered the dress of Kristey’s dreams right to her hospital room.
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Even better, Watt offered to donate both the dress and shoes.
“Kristey’s a spitfire. She knew what she wanted, there was no messing around — very decisive and knew right away, and we tried them all on and figured out what felt best,” said Watt.
“It’s a light blue-greenish and it has, like, a net pattern,” Kristey said. “It’s a short dress and I also got shoes and a necklace with it.”
While Kristy has three more chemotherapy sessions left, she’s counting down the days until when she can rock her new dress at graduation in June.
“I said yes to the dress! Haha,” said Kristey.
A local hairstylist has also offered to style Kristey’s hair.
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