An Edmonton girl who had surgery for a rare tongue disorder will return home from hospital to a sweet surprise: a personalized freezer stocked with popsicles to help her recovery.
Two-year-old Alexis Vowles needed to have surgery for a rare condition called macroglossia that caused her tongue to swell. The condition made her tongue so large that it protruded from her mouth, making it difficult to eat, drink, and breathe.
Her mother, Danielle Good, struggled for two years to have her daughter's condition diagnosed and a surgery scheduled. But the surgery was cancelled twice because of a shortage of staff and beds at the Stollery Children's Hospital.
After turning to the media for help, hospital staff contacted Good and told her a space had opened up for her daughter. The toddler is now recovering from surgery and will return home soon.
Part of her recovery means she can't eat or drink anything for a week, but when she returns home Vowles will find 700 popsicles, her favourite snack, just for her.
When Kelly Desvoyault heard about Good's story she wanted to help. She's never met Good or Vowles but as a mother herself, Desvoyault just wanted Vowles to be comfortable.
"I want her to know that this was a positive thing for her, this is a life-changing thing for her and we should embrace it," she told CTV Edmonton. "I want her to go through recovery and be happy and be comfortable, that's the most important thing."
So Devoyault decided to buy a small freezer and fill it with popsicles for Vowles.
She even decorated the freezer for the recovering girl, decking it out with stickers that spell "Alexis" and stickers of characters from the movie "Frozen."
"Because it's popsicles … it kind of goes hand in hand, 'Frozen' and frozen," she said. "So I just decked it out with Alexis' name and some 'Frozen' characters, so it will be hers and only hers."
Good said that doctors have reduced the size of her daughter's tongue, but she'll still have other surgeries in the future to remove a cyst. She said that, while she was never looking for donations, the freezer will be one surprise her daughter will love.
"I'm not here for donations. I am only here because I need my daughter to get well, but thank you to everybody," Good said.
With a report by CTV Edmonton's Amanda Anderson
