8-Year-Old Girl With Rare Disease Buys Toys for St. Jude
This video is no longer available.
DRESDEN, Tenn. — A little girl in Dresden is putting others before herself for her birthday this year, by donating toys to children in the hospital. Emma Boaz gets emotional at the thought of children suffering. So, when she turned 8 years old she decided to use $150, part of which was birthday money, to buy toys for children at St. Jude hospital. “I feel really bad for them to be in the hospital and I want them to be happy,” Emma Boaz said. Emma suffers from a condition known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta or O.I. for short, a rare disorder characterized by fragile bones. She was diagnosed after falling off her bike and injuring herself at 4 years old. “We also found out that she had four compression fractures in her spine that we didn’t know anything about,” Amy Boaz said, Emma’s mother. “So when she snapped her femur that sent her straight to Le Bonheur.” Even though Emma is in agonizing pain every day, her father says that doesn’t stop her from putting other people’s happiness above her own. “She’s worried about these other kids in St. Jude that don’t get to come home, that don’t get to have fun,” Corey Boaz said, Emma’s father. “And she’s worried about how they feel.” Since Emma is too young to deliver the gifts personally, the family plans to mail the toys Monday. “I kinda thought, you know, more people out there need to be like Emma, myself included, like a lot of adults could learn from her,” Corey Boaz said. The family says they’re having a 5K race on May 10 in Martin to raise awareness about their daughter’s disorder. Proceeds from the race will go toward the OI foundation.
