Editor's note: Thank you to everyone who sent holiday cards to Alivia! Click here to see her happy update.
FREDERICK, Colo. — The most wonderful time of year isn't going great for 9-year old Alivia Cooper. Her mom said it felt like one thing right after another.
"My grandma passed away on Mother's Day... then slowly everything just kind of fell downhill," said Alivia's mother, Kendra Decker. "Alivia had vision therapy with a very rigorous home program, then ended up in a boot for a week. A month later, after she got out of the boot, she ended up breaking her hand at school. Then we lost my aunt over the weekend from cancer."
With so much loss and pain going on within their family, Decker said she wanted to do something to get her daughter to smile again, and needs the community's help.
"I reached out and just made a couple of posts in different places and asked for just Christmas cards or funny cards with stories of any kind. Just to help take her mind off of it," Decker said.
The response was swift, the first care package arrived in just hours. It was from Alivia's best friend.
"At first I thought, 'Well, it's just a bunch of cards.' I read the tag, open the box and there's a sweet potato, a very big one," said Alivia, who loves random jokes. "It says, 'I bet you never thought this was a potato! Love Shawnda and Piper.'"
The 9-year-old said the box made her laugh, hard. She told Denver7 it made her feel like people cared about how she was feeling right now.
Alivia's mom hopes, with your help, there's more laughter than tears in her home this holiday season.
