Barbie-themed party at Mott Children's Hospital leaves patient feeling hopeful

For 6-year-old Emilia Pigeon, life for the last year has been a struggle.

“It’s been a really long, hard year,” said Danielle Pigeon, Emilia’s mom. “She’s been through a lot. Like she definitely carries it well, but it’s very skewed what you see. What we post, we’re not stopping to roll the camera when she’s getting her ports accessed or she’s feeling sick.

Sadly, a little over a year ago, Emilia was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma. It’s a form of cancer that attacks immature nerve cells in different parts of the body.

But today, Emilia is cancer-free, and she is putting an end to her yearlong, once-a-month hospital stay her way.

“Well, I’m going to have a huge party,” the young cancer survivor said.

And believe it or not, a party is exactly how I met Emilia after running into her at the Barbie-themed party that the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital art department hosted for patients.

The party served as a place for patients to come to and pick up a Barbie of their choice.

The hospital uses art therapy for patients and families who stay at the facility to help normalize the experience.

Erica Cannon is a mom of a 1-year-old patient at the hospital. She says she brought her daughter to the party to get her out of her hospital room and to get her baby her very first Barbie doll.

“She’s in her room a lot,” Cannon said. “So, I just wanted to come down and do something fun with her.”

Emilia also got a Barbie while hanging out at the party and she did it all while receiving her chemotherapy treatment.

Emilia’s mom says this is one of the examples of how well her daughter wears her diagnoses, but it wasn’t always this way. In fact, Danielle Pigeon says when Emilia was first diagnosed was probably the hardest.

“She was so sick,” Danielle Pigeon said. “And she didn’t know, she was 5 years old. She had to lose her hair and that happened really fast.”

But today Emilia says those days are long gone, and she is looking forward to starting her new beginning after beating cancer.