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A young girl received a big surprise when hundreds of people turned up to mark her final cancer treatment, after the original party was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Around 150 cars took part in a parade to celebrate five-year-old Selah Grace Feely's final chemotherapy treatment outside Bayside Church in Manatee County, Florida.
A party had been planned to mark the occasion, but it had to be canceled because of the spread of COVID-19. Instead, members of the church held a parade to celebrate her being declared cancer-free.
Her mother, Christina Feely, told Fox13: "Today, Selah had her last chemo treatment. She was declared cancer-free!"
"She's never been to a parade. She's getting her own parade!"
Feely created an event on Facebook encouraging people to celebrate her daughter's good news.
Thank you everyone for coming out and celebrating our girl today. So many emotions are running through me. I have to process all of them. At this point the only word that comes to my brain is...
"We are so overjoyed this day is finally here!!! We planned a party for this occasion but because of quarantine orders, it can't happen," the event description reads. "But that's ok! Let's celebrate with a parade for our girl!
"The Feely Family will be camped out in front of the Bayside EBC main building. Please drive by at 4:30 and make a lot of noise for Selah. If you have a bell, please bring that and ring it for her!"
She added: "Please do not throw any confetti or anything that we'd need to clean up afterwards. But if you have beads or anything like that, totally fine. Selah's never been to a parade before so this will be a lot of fun for her.
"Thank you Bayside for letting us do this here. Our farm property does not lend itself to allowing a quarantine parade. We are so very grateful that you are allowing us to do it here, our home."
Writing on Facebook before the parade took place, Feely said she had no idea how big the event would get.
Members of the community passed by in their cars to wave and cheer with the family. Some even turned up in costumes.
The girl's mother wrote an emotional post on Facebook afterwards, thanking everyone for attending the parade and celebrating her daughter's good news.
"Thank you everyone for coming out and celebrating our girl today. So many emotions are running through me. I have to process all of them," she wrote.
"At this point the only word that comes to my brain is "awestruck". Awestruck at the strength of Selah, awestruck at the goodness and favor of God, and awestruck at our amazing support system. Thank you for being our people. We love you."
