NIAGARA FALLS (CNN NEWSOURCE) – A little girl in New York with terminal cancer has beaten the odds time and time again.
This year, her family is celebrating another holiday season and her special Christmas wish came true.
Three-year-old Anastasia from Niagara Falls is like many little girls.
She loves Christmas songs but she is far from an ordinary child.
She was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor that caused her to go completely blind, making music one of her main joys.
Ana knows when the holiday season is approaching and begins singing Christmas carols in October before they are even being played on the radio.
Anastasia was diagnosed in the Summer of 2016.
She has lost her ability to walk and see and has faced about 15 surgeries in only three years.
Last week on Monday, Ana’s mother, Lene’e Gray, was told that her daughter wouldn’t live through the day.
This isn’t the first time that the family heard this prognosis and this also isn’t the first time that ana has proven it wrong.
Gray spoke with us through Facetime while in a hospital room in New York City.
“You would have never have known that they said Monday night have been her last day. She is the one who gives us hope. Not the doctors. Not anything else,” Gray said.
When police officers and firefighters heard that Ana wanted them to sing her Christmas songs, they were touched and made her wish a reality.
“I saw her on Facebook on her Facebook page a couple of years ago. I was pregnant with my daughter around the same age. I learned about her illness and she has had a special place in my heart ever since,” Detective Sandi Arist said.
“We reached out to her mom. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in the area for us to see her personally, but she recommended that Jingle Bells in her favorite song, so she asked if we could videotape it. We got a hold of some guys, made some phone calls,” Detective Patrick Clifton said. “It’s nice that we got the turnout that we go to give her this special Christmas gift.”
The Niagara Falls community has a message of encouragement for Anastasia’s family.
“Stay strong, keep the faith, you can do this. Be strong for her, be strong for yourself, and I wish you the best,” Earl Bass said.
You can follow Anastasia’s journey through the ‘Anastasia’s Army’ Facebook page.