‘A little tiny piece of magic’
Gowns and giggles abound at the Princess Ball, a tribute to girl who died of cancer
Tanya Boehm didn’t tell her daughter, Marlow Ploughman, about the Princess Ball until the day before the big event.
For much of her short life, the 5year-old has been in treatment for a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Boehm tries to avoid getting Marlow’s hopes up about future plans in case her health takes a turn.
“Our life isn’t normal, so to be a part of something cool and normal with everyone else is a really special moment,” Boehm said on Sunday, as her daughter joined the hordes of little girls, all clad in princess dresses at Toronto’s Liberty Grand. “Look at her — she’s running!”
Wearing an aqua gown and glittering face paint, she excitedly collected autographs from her favourite Disney princesses. This is the essence of the Princess Ball, which grew out of one family’s desire to create a tribute befitting the princess-loving daughter who left them too soon.
Olivia Grace White was just 5 when she died suddenly in her Pickering home on Boxing Day 2012 of septicemia, caused by a bacterial infection that spread, undetected, until she was gone.
To honour Olivia, their kind-hearted first-born who skipped wherever she went and fell in love with princesses after a trip to Disney World, her parents, Jennifer and Glenn White, founded Wishes for Olivia, which raises funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Other fundraising events have included a marathon in Scotland, a golf tournament in Toronto and entering a team — the aptly named Cinder-Hell-Yeahs — in a Tough Mudder race in Mount St. Louis Moonstone.
Jennifer White said the Princess Ball is “a little tiny piece of magic” because “Olivia was our little piece of magic, and we know she would have loved this event.”
Nearly 500 guests — including the Whites’ other children, Aurelia, 3, and Griffin, 3 months — packed a ballroom in the Liberty Grand, where they enjoyed a buffet of dainty snacks, story time with Sleeping Beauty and dance lessons with Snow White.
Tickets were $125 for adults, $50 for children and $25 for babies. All proceeds from ticket sales and a silent auction will go to Make-A-Wish.
There were also three “host” families with children currently undergoing cancer treatment, which were chosen by lottery to attend through donations. Marlow Ploughman and her mom, who drove in from the Belleville area for the event, were among them.
In the lineup for the candy bar at the cocktail reception, Bronwyn Elms, 7, was hard-pressed to say which of the afternoon’s events she was anticipating most.
“I’m excited about everything!” she said.
Her mom, Lisa Elms, said she was touched by the way the Whites have turned tragedy into something so positive.
“I don’t know if I could do it,” she said of Jennifer White. “She’s pretty amazing.”
Meanwhile, down the hall, little girls lined up to get an autograph from White, whose glossy blond curls and full blue gown made her difficult to distinguish from Disney royalty. She took it in stride. “I didn’t expect that at all,” she said. “I’ve been explaining that I’m not Cinderella . . . that I’m just borrowing the fairy godmother’s magic for one day.”
White said the ball is about “moving forward with Olivia.”
“We want Olivia to be at the forefront of everybody’s minds today and going forward,” she said. “This was the only thing we could do.”