Heartwarming: 5-Year-Old Boy with Brain Condition Given Doll with Matching Surgery Scars
A sweet 5-year-old boy from Florida is being shown some love by a group of kind second-graders who wanted to help children with medical needs.
Payton Haynes was born with a condition known as craniosynostosis — a birth defect that causes the fibrous joints in the skull to close before the brain is completely formed, according to Mayo Clinic.
On top of that, Payton’s hydrocephalus causes fluid to fill his brain cavities. He has had to undergo two brain surgeries, “Good Morning America” reported.
For any child, those external scars can often be internally damaging. When you look different, it can be difficult to feel like you fit in, especially when no one else looks like you.
“For my little boy, there is nothing out there that just looks like him,” Kristin Haynes, Payton’s mom, told GMA. “I thought it’d be amazing for him to look down and see something that reflects himself.”
Which is why the second-graders at Cracker Trail Elementary School in Sebring — where Kristin Haynes once taught — raised close to $500 to help two families. Some of that money was put toward something very special — something that looks just like Payton.
“A Doll Like Me” is based in Wisconsin. It’s a non-profit organization founded by a stay-at-home mom named Amy Jandrisevits.
“I have always been disappointed in the lack of diversity in dolls…” Amy writes on her Facebook page. “So, as my mom taught me, if you don’t like it… do something about it!”
And she did! One of Amy’s custom dolls now belongs to Payton. It was presented to him by the students at Cracker Trail Elementary School on May 24, 2019.
Though Payton isn’t a student at the school, that didn’t change a thing. He was loved and accepted by all, celebrated for his strength and courage.
“He said, ‘He looks just like me,'” Kristin Haynes told GMA. “He loved it, and the first thing he did was take the doll’s shoes off because Payton doesn’t like to wear shoes.”
“Payton has decided to name him Payton Lee Jr.,” Payton’s mom added on Facebook, expressing her heartfelt gratitude. “The kind hearts of these students and their teachers is an inspiration to so many.”
The doll features scars on his head and stomach to match Payton’s. “Payton was beside himself when he opened it,” Elisabeth Prendergast, one of the school’s teachers, told PEOPLE. “It was the cutest thing ever.”
Now Payton has a sweet pal to take with him to doctor’s appointments and accompany him on all manner of adventures.
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