A 3-year-old girl Ellie Walton is suffering from brain tumor, but is receiving love and support from all over the world through postcards sent by strangers.
About six weeks ago, her parents Sarah and Kyle, put up a post on their Facebook page dedicated to Ellie, urging readers to send postcards so that little Ellie could see places from different continents.
Ellie's passion for postcards was roused when she received a postcard with a donkey picture from her grandparents.
"Ellie thought it was the coolest thing to get a donkey in the mail," Sarah told TODAY.com. "She's in love with animals."
When Ellie was four months old, she was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, called infantile ganglioglioma. After receiving multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and 17 brain surgeries, Ellie and her parents are not giving up.
She developed another tumor, glioblastoma, last year, which has scarce chance of survival, and will require another round of chemotherapy for the next one-and-a-half year, the family blog Prayers for Ellie says.
"We have a long road ahead, but one thing is for sure, this kid isn't a statistic, and boy can she fight!!!" her parents write on the blog.
Loved by many people in the world, she gets many postcards, where people express their affection and send encouragements.
"I like my postcards," Ellie said. "They make me happy."
One postcard from Turkey read: "The world has so much to offer you. You should be able to travel and see different countries."
"Not only is it a postcard that shows her a different place, but it also shows her that people believe in her, and they believe in how strong she is and they know she can beat this," Sarah told KOMO News.
Last month, she received over 500 postcards, but the ones with dolphins are her favorite.
Sarah said that every postcard has something special, and gives a sweet feeling in her heart.
When one year of her treatments will be over, the family plans to take Ellie to Hawaii, so that she can look at dolphins for real.
