KALISPELL, Mont. - Valicity Faith, a five-year-old girl who lost her life to the difficult battle of leukemia, had a true princess-like mentality. From sharing dances with her dad to playing princesses with her mom, she made an impact on every life she touched.
"I think she was special because she was my hero, because she was ours. But, she did have that gift... that, as she's going through... chemotherapy, she's basically being absolutely 100% wiped out, she never really looked like it," saidJosh Faith, Valicity's dad. "You know, she always had a smile on her face."
The three-year-old girl amazed her doctors by the spark that she maintained through her battle.
"She always had this contagious laughter that literally people would, you know, come from other parents, other kids, doctors, nurses, individuals would come to search her out just to be able to feel the happiness that she was able to give off the smile, the laughter,"Faith said.
It has been proven by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society that this is the most common form of cancer for young adults. Around 54 thousand people younger than 20 in the U.S. are living with or in remission from this disease.
It takes up 25 percent of all types of cancers. It can be hard to detect at first and can also be very difficult to prevent especially at such a young age.
"We were immediately life flighted over to Seattle, where we went through 13 long months of treatment over there," Faith said. "And from there, she was considered to be in remission."
This family stayed at the Ronald McDonald house in Seattle while they battled through this tough time, but, after a few months of waiting, they finally received the news that they had been waiting for; they were finally able to come home.
"We were able to come home we had a celebration of life friends and family… We rented a ballroom. We all got dressed up. We had an absolutely amazing evening," Faith said. "And, you know, our daughter, from literally the minute that it was over, kept, you know, 'I want to do it again. I want to do it again.'"
Then, six months after that very first ball, Valicity lost her battle to leukemia.
"Shortly after, unfortunately, she relapsed, and, July of 2010, she lost her battle."
Her parents decided to turn this tragedy into an opportunity to help other families that were going through the same thing.
"That is when my wife actually came up with the idea to do another ball. And, we kept telling her, 'you kick cancer's butt, we will do another princess ball,' with my wife coming up with the idea, we started spit-balling about it. 'Let's do a princess ball in honor of Valicity, and from here we can use it to raise money for different organization that helped us along the way."
That was the start of the Valicity Once Upon a Time Ball.
"In 2011, we hosted our first princess ball again back at the Alpine Lightning, where it's a small little room. It's a very beautiful little, little location. And, we were expecting, you know, a couple of people," Faith said. "We had no clue what to expect. And, doors open and somebody came in and said, my gosh, we literally have people lined up around the city."
Since that night, the Valicity Once Upon a Time Ball has been a sell-out event more than ten years later in Kalispell, Montana.
"We've had to search for different locations throughout the valley to find a place we will be able to host as large of an event as it has turned out to be," Faith said. "We can only sell a thousand tickets, and it gets very crowded and very busy, especially with all the beautiful ball gowns and dresses that everybody wears for the event, but it seems to work out best for us."
Since then the ball has seen hundreds young princesses, those who battle with cancer or those who just want to support such a great cause.
With all the money that they have raised, the Faith family has donated to 406 For Kids, Angel Flight West, the Ronald Mcdonald House, Montana Hope and the Sunshine Factory in the Flathead Valley, which provides every family a relaxing place to go when their child is receiving care at Logan Health.
If you would like to support this family in their dream of raising money for a good cause, you can go to next year's Valicity Once a Time Ball that is normally in the month of March.
If you would like to contribute to Valicity's Once Upon a Time, you can donate hereat valicitysonceuponatime.org.
