An 11-year-old leukemia patient asked her hospital window for pizza and donuts – and three businesses showed up with both.
Emmalee Wilkins is being treated for leukemia at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. To brighten the long days, she taped handmade posters in her window asking for exactly two things: pizza and donuts.
It wasn’t her first time trying the trick.
“I did it at Norton Children’s [Hospital] in Louisville, and I wanted to do the same thing for here,” Wilkins said. Asked if it worked there too, she said simply, “Yes.”
Photos of her signs spread on social media, and it worked again. Snappy Tomato Pizza and Abby Girl Sweets both sent food to her floor. Bourbon House Pizza owner Mary Brandstetter drove pizzas over herself after seeing the post.
“A little girl asked for pizza on a poster board in her window,” Brandstetter said. “So, we were like of course, of course, you know, we’re going to go. She asked for a pizza. It’s a little girl. Why not?”
Brandstetter spoke with Wilkins’ mother before heading back to the room with the food.
“I still have chills. It means a lot,” Brandstetter said. “It makes you think that the little struggles that you have in your life right now don’t even compare to what this mom… It just makes you feel so good to be a small part to help them in that situation. And we’re all praying for her and rooting for her.”
Not every delivery was a surprise to Wilkins.
“Well, one person surprised us and the other person we knew ahead of time,” she said.
Asked what it meant that local pizza places saw her sign and answered it, Wilkins kept it simple. “It makes you feel good,” she said. She had one more message for Cincinnati: “Can you tell everybody thanks?”
