When the Vandermark family found out that this Christmas was
going to be the last for their sweet little Virginia Rose, they decided to go
all out.
The
4-year-old girl was diagnosed with leukemia on April 7. A bone marrow
transplant was planned for over the summer, but she couldn't go through with it
due to minor heart failure.
By
September, her doctor had some bad news. She wasn't going to make it to
Christmas.
So her family came up with the idea to celebrate the holiday
every weekend leading up to Dec. 25.
Jennifer
and Jonathan Vandermark shared the idea with friends and family on Facebook,
and within days, their hometown of Chesterfield, Virginia, was lit up for her.
The community also decorated a neighborhood fence to feature her
name in lights.
Renee
Trivisonno was following the family's updates for months but didn't realize
they lived nearby until one night in October, when she was driving home from
work and noticed many of her neighbors had already put up their Christmas
lights.
"It
finally clicked after a few minutes," Trivisonno told TODAY.com.
"Here I was praying for this little girl to get better when she was right
under my nose the whole time. I had to do something to help her."
That's when the service coordinator for
Chesterfield County rallied her community to gather and sing Christmas carols
for the ailing girl.
On Friday, 50 people met at a local grocery store and caravanned
to the Vandermark's home, with Santa in a red Mustang convertible leading the
way.
When
they arrived, Virginia Rose was outside on the front lawn, surprised and
thrilled to see Santa.
Trivisonno had everyone bring gift cards, and together they
pooled about $800 worth to stores like Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us and Kroger.
Neighbors
have also been dropping by the house to bring presents, some for Virginia
Rose's brothers, RJ, 5 and Samuel, 2.
On top of that, strangers from all over the world donated more
than $11,000 to the family's GoFundMe campaign, which they plan to use for
funeral arrangements.
They
also hope to replace the broken down van they use to drive 30 minutes both ways
twice a week to the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU for her treatments.
"We were too prideful to ask for
help at first, but I'm happy we did because we've met some pretty incredible
people who want to help us out of the goodness of their hearts," Jennifer
Vandermark, Virginia Rose's mom, told TODAY.com.
While they usually make their rounds around the state for
Christmas visiting various family members, they're having the family come to
them this year.
"Right
now we're just trying to enjoy our last Christmas with our little girl and
thanks to the outpouring love and support from our community, we're able to do
just that," Vandermark said.
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