Do y’all remember 16-year-old Mahlet from a few months ago? She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and relapsed earlier this year after being cancer free for 2 years. It’s been a few months since I last saw her. When I last saw her she was unable to walk and paralyzed on the right side of her body from head to toe.
Today we met for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, a place she had never been but had wanted to go. We had such a great time! It was so nice seeing her walk and able to use her right hand a bit now, she looked great!! Today was the first time she had been out in public, other than going to Vanderbilt weekly, in months. Her mom said she loved seeing her smiling today. She said on the way to meet me at the restaurant she was singing, smiling, and dancing in the car. She has a beautiful smile but smiling is something she hadn’t really been doing a lot of lately. Mahlet also had a great appetite today, another thing that hadn’t been happening for her. Just last Thursday she almost went to the ER because she didn’t eat or drink all day. Her mom was so pleased to see her eat today.
Mahlet’s wish is for a shopping spree. She originally wanted to do it online because she didn’t want to go out in public. Just like any typical teen girl, she was self conscious about her appearance. I’m so glad she met me today for lunch. We even talked about meeting up again in a few weeks to go to Opry Mills and shop!
The Cheesecake Factory was absolutely amazing. Leonard, the restaurant manager, invited Mahlet to go back behind the counter and create her very own one of a kind cheesecake. She truly enjoyed herself today and it was so nice seeing her so happy.
Oh! A cute moment at dinner involved the napkins. The Cheesecake Factory has cloth napkins and Mahlet hasn’t ever used cloth napkins. So when she asks for a napkin her mom gives her the cloth one. She said “are you serious…this feels so wrong wiping my hands on this”. It was so cute!
Keep Mahlet in your prayers please. She still has 6 more months of chemo. AND fingers crossed that she doesn’t change her mind about going to Opry Mills and shopping in person instead of shopping online.
