On their wedding day, most young girls envision their father giving them away and escorting them down the aisle, however, Chloe Williams won’t experience that. Chloe is not one of the women who decide they don’t want their father to go with them on those important adulthood stages. Instead, her father, Mark, made this choice.
Throughout their careers, doctors care for innumerable patients, but it’s those who display tremendous resilience in the face of overwhelming odds that serve as a constant reminder of why they entered the field in the first place.
Dr. Alex Levy encountered one of his most tenacious patients to date when Mark and Michelle Williams brought their 4-year-old daughter Chloe into Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando, Florida, on Christmas Eve of 2009.
And as soon as they ran tests, Dr. Levy gave them a diagnosis on Christmas Eve that no parent wants to hear. Chloe had a malignant brain tumor.
A heart-warming story in production by Strong Films, which has been viewed over 9 million times, tells the story of how Chloe was diagnosed with a malignant, cancerous brain tumor during that trip to the emergency room. One portion of his talk with her father stood out to Dr. Levy when he delivered the traumatic news to the family.
Recalling the night he met Chloe and her family on Christmas Eve, Dr. Levy further explained, “ I got called because there was a young girl, 4 years old, who came into the emergency room the night before with vomiting and headaches and trouble walking. When we did some MRIs of her brain, she was found to have a brain tumor.”
“I’ll never forget that the dad said to me, he said, ‘Will I ever get to walk my daughter (down the aisle) in her wedding,’” Dr. Levy shared in the video, “At that point, I said, ‘I don’t know, but we’re gonna try damn hard to make that happen,” as he remembers going into the family’s room on the 24th of December to tell them their daughter’s frightening diagnosis — a malignant, cancerous brain tumor.
However, Chloe was confirmed tumor- and treatment-free and back to her joyful prior self after three operations and 18 months of chemotherapy treatments to eliminate the tumor.
Dr. Levy witnessed Chloe battle her disease with unfathomable strength alongside her parents, and he couldn’t help but be proud of his heroic patient. He shared her parents’ excitement about going to her wedding one day.
“She’s actually doing great. She doesn’t have any evidence of the tumor whatsoever. She’s back in school, happy, playful,” Dr. Levy said.
However, just a few weeks prior to the film’s production, Chloe’s father expressed his desire for Dr. Levy to accompany Chloe down the aisle as a gesture of his unfathomable appreciation.
“He told me a couple weeks ago that he was planning to have me walk her (down the aisle),” an emotional Dr. Levy recalled.
“When that dad gives me a call and tells me to walk Chloe down the aisle for her wedding, I’ll probably retire after that because I don’t think there could be a greater high or sense of fulfillment after that,” he added.
The Williams family is so amazing for letting the world see their journey through Chloe’s eyes so that everyone who might need a little inspiration in a world that is frequently depressing can learn about the touching story. Every parent who has a daughter will embrace her a bit closer as a result, and the world could always use a little more love like that.
Chloe is such a special girl.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: TapHaps, Strong Films, Fox News
