Emmalee Wilkins is 11 years old and is battling acute myeloid leukemia.
From her room at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, she put handmade signs in the window asking for pizza and doughnuts. She wasn’t asking just for herself: she wanted to share a party with the other children hospitalized on the same floor. The photos were flooded with hearts on social media, and Snappy Tomato Pizza, Bourbon House Pizza, Abby Girl Sweets, and several local doughnut shops soon arrived, loaded with boxes and cupcakes for the entire hallway.
The news even reached Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and President Donald Trump, who sent her letters of encouragement. Emmalee already dreams of something bigger: founding ‘Emmalee’s Slices of Hope,’ an organization to bring pizza to other children who, like her, spend their days undergoing treatments. Months later, she made it through the bone marrow transplant and left the hospital amid applause and the sound of the bell announcing that she was finally home.