“Seeing them smile makes me happy!”
Twelve-year- old Bella Fricker loves American Girl dolls. In fact, she has almost two dozen, and she’s still buying more. Not for herself— to give to some special little girls who could use a special friend!
Bella Fricker, then 9 years old, sat quietly, paging through the latest American Girl doll catalog. The Alpharetta, Georgia, native received her first American Girl doll from her grandmother on the day she was born. The dolls became her special birthday and Christmas gifts. And Bella would even save up the money she received to buy others. They were her special friends.
Suddenly, as she turned a page, Bella stopped, surprised to see a selection of dolls without hair.
“They’re just like Lily,” Bella sighed, remembering her friend Audrey’s 5th birthday party, where she’d met her classmate’s big sister, Lily.
“She’s sick with cancer, and the medicine she needs made her hair fall out,” Bella’s mom, Valerie, had explained.
Bella’s heart had tugged. Now seeing the bald dolls, she felt it squeeze again. “I bet Lily would have loved a special friend who looked just like her,” she told her mom, showing her the catalog.
Then, without missing a beat, “If I raise the money, can I buy some of the dolls and give them to sick kids?” Bella asked.
“Certainly,” Valerie said, and not long after, Bella showed her mom a bracelet she’d made with “courage” spelled out in beads. “If I make more, can you sell them for me on Facebook?”
Bella’s Peace Love Bracelets sold out in hours, earning enough to buy three dolls from the American Girl Dolls Without Hair line. Then her mom contacted a local hospital, and a social worker connected them with three patients. “You can cuddle her when you’re scared. She’ll make you feel better,” Bella told the girls.
“I’m so proud of you,” Valerie said as they headed home. But Bella was just getting started.
Bella enlisted her dad and brothers to help make bracelets, which she sold on her Peace Love Bracelets Foundation Facebook page. Soon she was buying and delivering more dolls to girls in other hospitals.
Nevaeh Williams was undergoing her second round of chemo when Bella arrived with a doll. “I’ve always wanted an American Girl doll!” she exclaimed, and her excitement doubled when Bella pointed out the doll’s lack of hair.
Nevaeh named her doll Faith and took her along for all of her treatments. She helped Navaeh stay strong and have faith that she’d be okay. And, today, she is in remission.
So far Bella has given away nearly 40 dolls with no hair, and now, having been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes herself, the 12-year-old is also gifting dolls with diabetes kits. “Everybody needs a friend, especially when you don’t feel good,” says Bella. “I love bringing smiles to the girls’ faces. Seeing them happy makes me happy.”