A toddler and his mom will be making memories this year as 1 teen's particular senior prom guests.
Taylor Schafer, 17, a student at Caroline High College in Milford, Virginia, invited Finn Blumenthal, two, to accompany her to the dance on April 21.
Finn was born with a congenital heart defect, which causes life-threatening health-related challenges, his mother Kelly Blumenthal of Fredericksburg told ABC News these days.
"He'll have the memory, so if he is hospitalized in the future we can say, 'Hey, you did go to a senior prom.'" she mentioned.
"It really is a dream come accurate because as a parent with a medically-challenged kid, we don't know what the future holds and I dream of factors like this," Blumenthal added. "I want him to go to prom, have a family members, go to college [but] I can't tell the future. The truth that I can check this off the list no matter what is a relief. I can not repay her for that."
When Finn was born, he survived 10 surgeries, including 3 procedures on his heart.
Despite the fact that he's spent most of his life in and out of the hospital, Blumenthal, a mom of two, stated Finn is resilient.
"He is not sad that he has heart disease, it does not bother him at all," she mentioned. "Irrespective of whether it really is climbing stuff or catching up with his brother pulling a red wagon, he wants to do it. He loves being about people, specifically youngsters."
Final October, Blumenthal stated she met high college teen Taylor Schafer via a mutual acquaintance.
Schafer began following Finn's story on Facebook and later reached out to Blumenthal, asking if she and Finn could be her special guests at prom.
On Monday, Schafer officially invited Finn to prom with a marquee message at the regional Chick-fil-A in Fredericksburg. The restaurant employees knows the Blumenthals and often holds fundraisers to raise revenue for Finn's medical bills, as properly as the American Heart Association, assistant marketing director Nicole Robyn told ABC News.
"Simply because of our close connection with the Blumenthal household, we had been thrilled to get to be a part of this truly sweet, inspirational story," Robyn mentioned.
Anna Swink, Taylor Schafer's mother, told ABC News that she's "pretty proud" of her daughter's sort gesture.
"I think its incredible," stated Swink, a Caroline County resident. "She's got a huge heart and I constantly knew she wanted to do one thing like this. She loves youngsters. When she located Finn, she started following him and just fell in appreciate with him."
On April 21, Finn will put on a James Bond-esque black tuxedo to prom, his mom stated. Flowers and a limo have been donated from nearby companies.
"I am excited to go to prom with Finn due to the fact I know he will have a great time dancing and seeing everyone there," Taylor Schafer wrote to ABC News. "I really feel that taking Finn to prom will [raise] awareness for CHD and seeing him do all the points that most youngsters with CHD can not do will be just amazing. He had so several limits on what he was permitted to do in the previous and seeing him overcome these limits [is] amazing."
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