The “Princess of Arendelle” recently took time to make a young Washington state girl’s day — and also let her know she is now an “honorary princess.”
In the voice of Princess Anna from Disney’s “Frozen,” actress Kristen Bell left a voicemail for Avery Huffman, a 6-year-old girl who was diagnosed last month with an inoperable brain tumor.
Avery’s parents have been sharing her story on Twitter with the hashtag #AveryStrong and on her CaringBridge page. She was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma on June 30.
“Anna” congratulated Avery on being a “good girl” and so brave. She said “Queen Elsa” would love to make her an honorary princess.
She ended the call by saying she was going to play with “Olaf” and saying, “I think you’ll make a great princess.”
“I’ll admit, I’ve watched the video of her hearing from Anna/Kristen Bell, around 50 times, just to watch her face light up, and to hear her giggle and see her smile,” Avery’s father, Brandon Huffman, wrote on the CaringBridge page.
Huffman, who is from Southern California, said an all-day fundraiser was hosted for the family by Urbane Cafe in Ventura. The event took place Thursday, according to the cafe’s Facebook page.
The family moved from Ventura to Washington state about 11 years ago, Huffman said.
A GoFundMe page for the little girl had raised more than $176,000 from more than 1,600 donors. The family said the fund was being closed to new contributions because the amount had exceeded expectations.
“The amount of support that has been raised for Avery in the past 16 days has been amazing, overwhelming and beyond anything that we ever anticipated,” the GoFundMe page stated. “We are humbled that in the middle of this nightmare we are facing, so many have reached out.”
Donations to Avery’s fund can also be made to the Manhattan Beach-based Talbert Family Foundation, which has a website with more information.