A toddler and his mom will be producing memories this year as one teen’s special senior prom guests.
Taylor Schafer, 17, a student at Caroline Higher College in Milford, Virginia, invited Finn Blumenthal, 2, to accompany her to the dance on April 21.
Finn was born with a congenital heart defect, which causes life-threatening healthcare challenges, his mother Kelly Blumenthal of Fredericksburg told ABC News nowadays.
“He’ll have the memory, so if he is hospitalized in the future we can say, ‘Hey, you did go to a senior prom.'” she said.
“It’s a dream come true since as a parent with a medically-challenged child, we never know what the future holds and I dream of points like this,” Blumenthal added. “I want him to go to prom, have a family members, go to college [but] I can not tell the future. The truth that I can check this off the list no matter what is a relief. I cannot repay her for that.”
When Finn was born, he survived ten surgeries, which includes 3 procedures on his heart.
Despite the fact that he’s spent most of his life in and out of the hospital, Blumenthal, a mom of two, said Finn is resilient.
“He is not sad that he has heart illness, it does not bother him at all,” she said. “No matter if it is climbing stuff or catching up with his brother pulling a red wagon, he wants to do it. He loves being about persons, in particular children.”
Last October, Blumenthal mentioned she met higher school teen Taylor Schafer by way of a mutual acquaintance.
Schafer began following Finn’s story on Facebook and later reached out to Blumenthal, asking if she and Finn could be her particular guests at prom.
On Monday, Schafer officially invited Finn to prom with a marquee message at the local Chick-Fil-A in Fredericksburg. The restaurant employees knows the Blumenthals and normally holds fundraisers to raise dollars for Finn’s health-related bills, as effectively as the American Heart Association, assistant marketing director Nicole Robyn told ABC News.
“Because of our close connection with the Blumenthal family members, we were thrilled to get to be a element of this definitely sweet, inspirational story,” Robyn mentioned.
Anna Swink, Taylor Schafer’s mother, told ABC News that she’s “pretty proud” of her daughter’s kind gesture.
“I assume its wonderful,” mentioned Swink, a Caroline County resident. “She’s got a significant heart and I usually knew she wanted to do something like this. She loves children. When she discovered Finn, she began following him and just fell in enjoy with him.”
On April 21, Finn will wear a James Bond-esque black tuxedo to prom, his mom mentioned. Flowers and a limo have been donated from regional organizations.
“I’m excited to go to prom with Finn mainly because I know he will have a great time dancing and seeing absolutely everyone there,” Taylor Schafer wrote to ABC News. “I feel that taking Finn to prom will [raise] awareness for CHD and seeing him do all the points that most children with CHD can’t do will be just wonderful. He had so several limits on what he was allowed to do in the past and seeing him overcome these limits [is] great.”
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