'PENNIES FOR WISHES': Students donate in girl's memory

LITTLE ROCK — Fiona Nacole Douberly was a 6-year-old who told jokes and dined with royalty.

She made sure to win the hearts of everyone she encountered, from her 87-yearold great-grandfather to classmates at Bismarck Elementary School.

Last December, her wish to "live in Cinderella's castle" was granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South. It sent Fiona and her family to Walt Disney World after she was diagnosed with brain-stem cancer.

She lunched with Disney princesses, was made over by fairy godmothers and sat atopa float in a Christma parade.

"It was a precious time," said her grandmother, Vicki Hill, "and I feel blessed that we had it."

Fiona died in Bismarck on May 10, nine days after her sixth birthday and10 months after she first fell ill.

Last week her friends decided to collect handfuls of change to give to Make-A-Wish in her honor.

The call to raise a couple hundred dollars in memory of the kindergartner quickly spread into the upper grades and the Bismarck community south of Hot Springs, said Debra Cowart, a first-grade teacher.

The one-week "Pennies for Wishes" drive started with handfuls of coins and ended with high school clubs competing against each other to raise the most money.

On Wednesday, Cowart and Bismarck students were counting and rolling coins adding up to $1,126. That rose to $3,098 by Thursday afternoon as checks started coming in. Cowart didn't announce the total amount raised by Friday so it would be a surprise for the students.

The grand total will be announced Tuesday afternoon during an academic pep rally. Cowart said the 1,000-student school district has never done anything like it in her 23 years of teaching there.

TUMOR DIAGNOSIS

Fiona first became ill last August, said her mother, Ali Christian.

A scan of her brain showed something suspicious. Neurosurgeons at Arkansas Children's Hospital removed a blood clot and sent a tissue sample to be tested, Christian wrote in an email to friends and family at the time.

"Thank you for all your prayers up to this point," she wrote. "I love you all and thank Jesus for giving me such a great team of prayer warriors."

Fiona was diagnosed with brain stem glioblastoma. The cancer was rated grade four out of four, the most aggressive type. Because of its location on the brain stem, it couldn't be removed surgically.

Doctors at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis gave her six to 12 months to live, Christian said, but invited her to participate in a clinical trial.

Fiona had three rounds of chemotherapy and radiation at St. Jude's. In January, her prognosis was three months.

She returned to Arkansas Children's Hospital for an experimental treatment. It worked for a time, shrinking the tumor.

But the tumor rebounded. On April 11, doctors gave her three to six weeks.

She died on May 10.

Brain tumors are the second-most common form of childhood cancer after leukemia, according to St. Jude's. Brain-stem tumors account for 10 percent of pediatric brain tumors, and their peak incidence is between the ages of 5 and 10, according to the hospital.

After Fiona was "finished with her tumor," as Christian puts it, doctors took another sample to compare it with the initial biopsy for pediatric brain cancer research. That was important to Christian.

"We were very glad and willing to do that for them," she said.

RINGLETS AND FAIRY DUST

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South grants about 120 wishes in Arkansas each year, said Melissa Wolverton, Arkansas' wish coordinator. The average wish costs about$5,000.

The money that the Bismarck schools raise will help grant the wish of an Arkansas child, she said.

There are four types of wishes: "to go" wishes include trips, "to be" wishes allow a child to be someone for a day, "to have" wishes are often for gifts like laptops and playhouses, and "to meet" wishes allow a child to meet a hero or celebrity.

Children between the ages of 1 2 /2 and 18 with life-threatening medical conditions are eligible for wishes. Wishes for visits to Walt Disney resorts are the most common, Wolverton said.

Fiona, her 4-year-old sister, Lana, her mother and her grandparents stayed in central Florida at the Give Kids the World Village, a nonprofit resort for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Ice cream and meals were available all day, and presents were left for the girls every night.

"You didn't hardly want to leave there to go to all the other places because it was so cool," Christian said.

Make-A-Wish also sent Fiona's father, Keegan Douberly, to Florida. He took the girls to Seaworld and Disney World, Christian said.

At the Epcot Center, Fiona and Lana dined with Disney princesses in a Norwegian castle.

Afterward, Fiona was tired so they stopped at a rest area for Make-A-Wish children. An attendant there found out that Fiona yearned to visit Cinderella Castle, which required advance reservations.

She made appointments for Fiona and Lana in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the castle, where "fairy godmothers" applied makeup, curled their hair into ringlets and powdered them with fairy dust. The girls dressed in gowns, donned tiaras and posed for pictures with the princesses.

Fiona fit right in at the beauty parlor, said her grandmother, Vicki Hill. She chatted up the fairy godmothers with the latest developments in her life.

Fiona's grandfather, Jack Hill, observed her play the part.

"Tears were just pouring down his face watching her," Vicki Hill said.

Vicki Hill is food service director for Bismarck Public Schools, and Jack Hill is a features reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Back at school in Bismarck, Fiona enthralled her classmates with tales of her princess adventures.

PIGGY BANK PENNIES

When Christian and the Hills heard that the school was having the coin drive, they donated the savings Fiona was keeping in her piggy bank for another vacation.

"We knew we had to give it to them because that was what Fiona would want," Christian said. "Somebody else helped her get to go on her vacation, and so we want to help someone else be able to go."

Fiona's memorial service was held May 17 in Hot Springs. Christian said classmates and teachers who adored Fiona came.

One little boy tapped Christian on the leg and handed her a bouquet of flowers.

He told her, "Fiona was my best friend."

Two days later, the children's coin drive began.

Those wanting to make a contribution to the Pennies for Wishes drive may contact Bismarck Elementary School at (501) 865-3616.