Residents in the Wallaceburg area have come together to make a little girl's wish come true.
Hayden Foulon was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2014 when she was just two-years-old. Although she is from London, she has family and friends in the Chatham-Kent area.
A Wallaceburg resident and good friend of the Foulon family, Tracy O’Brien-VanDamme, said the seven-year-old had created a list of wishes of things she wanted to do. O’Brien-VanDamme said she took it upon herself, with the help of many others, to make one of those dreams a reality.
"It was very basic things on the wishlist, like having a water balloon fight, a birthday party, going for a boat ride and planting a tree," she said. "Things that we take for granted every day."
A park bench was dedicated to Hayden Foulon at Kinsmen Park in Wallaceburg, June 7, 2019. (Photo courtesy of Tracy O’Brien-VanDamme)
One of the things Foulon had written on her wish list was to have something named after her. With the help of local residents, the municipality, and a group of anonymous donors, a park bench at the Kinsmen Park in Wallaceburg has been dedicated in Foulon's honour.
A special ceremony was held Friday to mark the occasion.
"The message that's engraved on the bench 'never, ever, ever give up' is something that everyone can be inspired by and motivated by," said Wallaceburg Councillor Aaron Hall, who added that he was approached by O’Brien-VanDamme who had been looking for support with the project.
Local residents from the municipality attended the ceremony with signs showing support for the young girl, and some even wore costumes of popular kids' characters like Marshall from Paw Parol and Pikachu from Pokemon. Members of the fire department and the police service were in attendance at the ceremony as well.
"I think she was overwhelmed at first because so many people came out. It was truly overwhelming, the amount of support," said O’Brien-VanDamme. "You could tell at first she was a little timid, a little overwhelmed and then by the end of the ceremony she was playing on the playground equipment and totally got used to everybody being there."
