KEY LARGO, FLA. (WSVN) - A young girl battling a crippling illness got a chance to be a mermaid for a day thanks to Make-A-Wish Southern Florida.
Brynlie Rake was born with Spina Bifida and has been confined to a wheelchair. Spina Bifida is a birth defect where a child’s spinal cord fails to develop properly.
Thanks to Make-A-Wish Southern Florida, the 11-year-old was able to live out her wish at Dolphins Plus Bayside in Key Largo.
“We had such a beautiful day today for Brynlie’s wish, her’s was to meet a dolphin and to swim with a dolphin and to meet a mermaid,” said a woman from Make-A-Wish Southern Florida.
The organization even paid for her flight from Wisconsin to take the adventure in the water.
“She has Spina Bifda — she is not able to walk, she just loves the water. It makes her more like everybody else,” said Brynlie’s mother.
Brynlie has always had a special place in her heart for mermaids since they don’t need legs to swim in the water.
“Since she’s been little, I told her her legs were like this because she’s a mermaid,” Brynlie’s mother said. “It means everything.”
Make-A-Wish Southern Florida has granted more than 11,000 life-changing wishes for children who have critical illnesses, like Brynlie, since 1983.
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