LONDON, ONT. -- Nine-year-old Cloey Prince was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood arthritis when she was around four years old.
"It’s called systematic juvenile idiopathic arthritis and it effects her entire body," says Cloey’s mom Kassandra Prince.
She says over the years the arthritis has taken a toll on her daughter’s health.
"She will get rashes from head to toe, fevers ranging from 103-105F, and it comes with no rhyme or reason. She obviously has arthritis throughout her body as well," says Prince, who adds that on Cloey’s good days her daughter likes to dance and to play, but she has many bad days as well.
"The worst days are heart-breaking because as much as she wants to be a normal kid, dance with her friends and do those things, she is physically unable to," says Prince.
"Something simple like going to the bathroom she sometimes can’t do alone because she will get stuck because she can’t get up."
Hearing about her journey the Make-A-Wish Foundation had planned to send Cloey and her family to Disney World next month, but that trip was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"She was heartbroken and there were a lot of tears."
Prince says her daughter took the news hard and hasn’t been doing well lately, so in order to lift her spirits she thought of an idea.
Since they can’t make it to Disney, the family decided to take to social media and is asking the community to help her put on a surprise Disney parade for Cloey to help lift her spirits.
"One of my biggest hopes is to be able to see a genuine smile on her face and to bring her joy in these uncertain times. We are all kind of dealing with but for kids like her it’s hitting her a lot harder."
The parade will take place on Saturday, May 2 at 1 p.m. outside and around 428 Egerton St., which is near Brydges.
The family is asking anyone in the community who wants to take part in the parade to dress up in Disney theme, bring Disney banners or really anything Disney to parade with.
Also, a reminder, this is a surprise and Cloey doesn’t know, so if you know the family, they are kindly asking people not to mention the surprise.
