While most people have a bucket list—those things you want to do in your life before you “kick the bucket”—six-year-old Cailee has a “sightseeing bucket list,” containing an index of places to visit and activities to experience before she loses her sight. When Cailee was two, she was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), which results in gradual vision loss. Currently, no cure or treatment exists, meaning that Cailee may be left blind in a few years with only her memory to color her world. Her mother, Catrina Frost, decided to start building Cailee's “memory bank” with as many activities as she can before her daughter loses any more of her sight. She's created a GoFundMe campaign to help fund even more of Cailee's dreams. Frost writes: “I was fortunate enough to have a very special friend who lost her vision recently explain to me that ‘it's not dark, because of her memories her brain recalls images and I ‘see' quite well'…. This made me even more determined to give her as many experiences and make as many memories as possible.”
So far, mother and daughter have crossed off Cailee's #1 wish to meet Snow White and Belle in person at Disneyland. They soaked up sun rays on the California coast and have plans to visit the Redwood Forests. Cailee’s list of activities also includes camping, fishing, and taking art and cooking classes. The two have many more heartwarming adventures to share together. Her mother says to the Daily Mail, “Whether she has vision or not I want her to grow up happy, healthy, successful and to become an independent woman.”
Here's Cailee, excitedly on her way to Disneyland.
This little beauty met Belle.
Cailee, filling her “memory bank” with fond memories of the California sun.
Many adventures await Cailee, but for now…Ukulele!
Cailee's Sightseeing Bucket List: GoFundMe | Facebook
via [Mashable]
All images via Catrina Frost/Cailee's Corner.
