After losing her leg to cancer, a 10-year-old girl found companionship in a special doll with the same condition.
In November 2016, Dylan Probe was diagnosed with a type of bone cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma. The fourth-grader had to undergo chemotherapy and on March 17, had her right leg amputated below the knee.
Throughout Dylan’s battle with cancer, photographer Sherina Welch has documented her journey in the hospital. Following the surgery, Welch decided to surprise the brave little girl with an American Girl doll that has a prosthetic leg just like hers.
Welch ordered the doll from a company called A Step Ahead Prosthetics, which customizes dolls for children who’ve experienced limb loss.
The little girl loved her new doll and named her Hope.
A video of Dylan receiving the surprise doll went viral on the popular Facebook page, Love What Matters, where it reached over 660,000 views.
Welch has been glad to see Dylan’s story getting attention and raising awareness around childhood cancer. The photographer has a project called “More Than 4,” in which she documents six families touched by childhood cancer to show “the good, the bad and the ugly” of this fight.
As the name suggests, Welch also wants to make people aware of the fact that only four percent of federal funding for cancer research goes toward childhood cancers. The photographer is also encouraging people to donate to their local chapters of Flashes of Hope and families battling childhood cancer in their communities.
As for Dylan, her family told Today.com that she has more chemotherapy to undergo, but they’re praying her subsequent scans show no signs of the disease.
And through it all, the little girl will have Hope by her side.
