A few months ago, Miss. K came to the studio to have some portraits done for a pageant. This sparky little girl of 6 is very excited about competing in pageants. So far she has won the titles of “Tiny Miss Connecticut” for Princess of America as well as, “Miss Spirit Massachusetts” for East Coast USA. Currently, she is competing in East Coast USA for nationals and now is national Hostess too. Next month she will compete for the International United Miss pageant on Sept 30th. We reached out to Miss. K to learn more about her and we were truly inspired by her actions and dreams. (or we were truly inspired by her story)
Besides competing, this busy 6 year old has committed countless amounts of time to help others in her community. She feels she can use the pageant platform as a way to help put a smile on the children’s faces at her hospital, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. So far, she has been able to donate 8 tablets for the infusion, IVIg, and oncology wings. Recently, she was in the newspaper for dropping off 1200 pairs of colorful, comfortable socks for the children that are hospitalized. She also has dropped off 60 blankets, brave gowns, over 1,000 unwrapped Christmas toys for children, and 400 educational children’s books! Currently she is working on a Play-Doh drive for her hospital.
Childhood illness is a subject that’s very near to Miss. K’s heart. This is because this brave warrior has been diagnosed with a rare, incurable compromised immune system. This diagnoses unfortunately, causes her a lot of other complications and new diagnoses such as IRA, Crohns, and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Because of her chest port, arthritis and EDS disease, she’s unable to play sports, dance, or do gymnastics. She’s often in pain and her joints swell up at times making it difficult to run and play. She has chronic fatigue because of the side effects from IVIg infusions and methotrexate. It truly brings Miss K joy to help other sick children which is why she continues to do a lot of fundraising for CCMC.
Miss K doesn’t let her diagnosis stand in her way however. She loves participating in pageants because of the friends she makes, and because she gets to look like a princess. She dreams of becoming a veterinarian. This is because her cat Sweetie is her best friend.
Miss K is also a Wish ambassador for Make a Wish CT. In 2017, she had her own wish granted, which was to go to Disney World. She wants to help Make a Wish CT grant more wishes for other children diagnosed with critical medical conditions like hers. She has also been a special guest at the American Red Cross blood drive in June at the Hartford Yard Goats. She relies on blood donations to help her immune system fight invaders that enter her body. Miss. K wants to bring awareness to blood donations and to help save lives.
Even though Miss. K is battling her own diagnoses, she continues to stay positive and strives to make a difference. For her next big project, she wants to meet with our local Congress and make sure all the schools in CT have a police officer or security officer to help keep the children and teachers safe from school shootings.
This amazing little girl may only be 6 years old, but she dreams big!
