A little boy from Illinois just had the happiest Halloween of his life.
So when residents of the Goshen Meadows neighborhood in Edwardsville heard that Sonny’s condition would prevent him from fully enjoying the day, they decided to have Halloween a week early.
“He wasn’t going to be able to trick-or-treat, and I just, as a mom, could not let that happen,” Amanda Richert, a friend of the Mead family, told the outlet. “The response was just overwhelming.”
“When we found out that they were doing this, we just thought it was absolutely amazing for people to care about somebody we care so much about,” Sonny’s grandmother, Josie Mead, told the outlet.
Jackie tells PEOPLE that Sonny “loved the trick or treating,” adding, “He kept talking about how much fun he had — he tried to sleep with his candy!”
Even after the family opted to head home early to keep Sonny from getting sick, the residents from local houses he didn’t make it to traveled to the family.
Courtesy Jackie Mead
“They drove up on the walk home, dropping off candy and gift bags to him,” Jackie says. “And they came to the door to drop off some candy. It was truly an amazing thing to be a part of.”
During Friday’s surgery, a cranioplasty, doctors will use bone from a cadaver and a 3D printer to rebuild Sonny’s skull. If it’s successful, Sonny should be able to grow and live like any other child.
“We want him to be able to play sports and stuff, and not have to worry as much of him getting hit on the head,” said Sam Mead, Sonny’s dad, to the news outlet.
Jackie tells PEOPLE that Sonny’s surgery began at 7:30 a.m. local time on Friday, and though it was still in progress, doctors at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital said the little boy was “doing good.”
source: people.com
