A young girl with a heart condition was granted a dream shopping trip and was given three minutes to collect as many toys as possible at a local Toys"R"Us on Tuesday morning.
Lily Gibb, 8, suffers from hypoplastic right heart syndrome and has undergone three open heart surgeries.
She is the Starlight Children’s Foundation child and she and her family were chosen for an exclusive shopping trip at the Sunridge Mall location before the store opened.
Starlight offers opportunities like this to seriously ill children to help them forget about hospital visits and doctors and focus on being a kid.
Lily spends a great deal of time indoors and loves doing arts and crafts so supplies for crafting were at the top of the shopping list.
Lily might have a little less energy than her friends, but her mom said she looks like any other child until you see the scar on her chest.
“This is going to be one of those opportunities that she’s going to look back on for her entire life and remember this amazing opportunity, we’re so thankful to Toys"R"Us and Starlight for the opportunity, she’s the luckiest kid in the world today," said Leah Gibb.
Lily had her mom, dad and three sisters helping her shop and they managed to fill nine carts in the three-minute shopping spree.
The head of Toys"R"Us Canada says the store has teamed up with Starlight for the last 21 years and it’s important to give back.
“We want kids to know that play is a right and for children like Lily, today in an environment where she’s being treated, we just want her to have the joy of play,” said Melanie Teed-March.
Lily is sharing some of the gifts she received with her sisters and cousins.
The value of her three-minute dash is upwards of $3000.
The shopping spree was made possible through a partnership between Toys"R"Us Canada and Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada.
