SLEEPER, Mo. - The community of Lebanon is coming together to help a little girl battling a rare form of brain cancer. Heaven Stockdale has been battling the tumor since she was just eight months old.
Heaven's grandmother created a Facebook page to share Heaven's story. Now this one-year-old little girl is having an impact all across the World. "She was born February 28, last year, she was eight months when we started noticing signs; she was throwing up, sleeping 22 hours of the day," says Heaven's mother Amy Hahn.
"She had just a couple days before that started sitting up and when she'd sit up she'd wobble," adds Heaven's grandmother Alice Stockdale.
"We took her to her pediatrician, she had an exam, and he said I expect she has a brain tumor," says Hahn.
So Amy left her two other children with their grandmother while she took Heaven to St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis.
"We were gone for two and a half months. We got to come home twice but just for a few days, it's rough being away from your other two and trying to explain to them that they have a sick sister," says Hahn.
"That was a hard one, not so much on the two year old girl but on the four year old boy, we told him that his baby sister was sick and she had to go away for a while to be taken care of and he looked up and said, 'Jesus heal her,'" says Stockdale.
But after months of chemotherapy, Heaven still wasn't getting any better.
"Basically said we have a couple options, you can take her home or we can try another chemo but they all said the probability of it even doing anything for her was slim," says Hahn.
Just two days before her first birthday, Amy brought Heaven home to celebrate it with her family.
"There were so many people who showed up and they didn't even know us, but they knew Heaven and they knew her journey -- and it was amazing to see so many people come together over a little girl," says Hahn.
"This baby has brought so many people together, so many people," says Stockdale.
Birthday wishes started coming in from all over.
"We've got some from Idaho, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia," says Hahn, "I mean there is tons and this isn't even the half of them."
"She got a birthday card from the UK yesterday," adds Stockdale.
Now this little girl who can't even talk is sharing her story with the world.
"There is not enough thank yous for the support of this community. Heaven has really brought everyone together," says Stockdale.
There is going to be a benefit auction at the VFW in Lebanon Saturday, March 9, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. All the proceeds will go to Heaven's family to help with medical expenses. To follow Heaven's Facebook page, click here.
