Christmas came true on Thursday for a young girl battling a terminal brain tumor.
Six-year-old Caroline Lopez from Kansas City, Kansas has been fighting the tumor for a year, but she never lost her Christmas spirit.
She mailed Santa some homemade snowflakes, and in return, Santa invited Caroline to “the North Pole”.
Hundreds of volunteers spent this week decorating an airplane hangar at Johnson County Executive Airport to transform it into a winter wonderland.
A reindeer exhibit, a gift-wrapping station, a naughty-or-nice- office, a Candyland station, and a spot for Santa’s chair helped make up the magical display for Caroline and her family.
A plane helped take the family to the hangar on Thursday, and when it arrived, all the volunteers clapped and sang as Caroline was welcomed to the Christmas surprise.
Her mother, Janna, said the family was overwhelmed by all of the support.
“There are just no words when you see your child go through such a hard time,” she said. “But then it was incredible to have something amazing like this (happen)."
Caroline’s two brothers also joined in on the fun.
In total, more than 500 volunteers helped put on the display.
All of them chose to remain anonymous.
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Tom Dempsey can be reached at tom.dempsey@kshb.com.
