California mom gets Mattel to make more chemotherapy dolls for sick kids

CALIFORNIA — The mother of a 4-year-old cancer patient in California is helping other young patients deal with their illness with the help of a famous toy.

Grace Bumstead has been diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. The disease will require Grace to get high doses of chemotherapy over the next year and a half.

"She's been amazingly brave. And we're very, very proud of her. It's not where we expected to be in life right now,” said Melissa Bumstead, Grace’s mother.

One of the hardest adjustments for Grace was losing her blonde curls. But then Grace was introduced to Ella, a chemotherapy Barbie that was created without hair and wears wigs.

"We bring her along everywhere to say, ‘This is what's happening. This is what's happened to Ella. This is what's gonna happen to you.’ It brought it to her level," said Bumstead.

But unfortunately, Ella is a rare doll. In fact there are only six of the dolls at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where Grace gets treatment.

Bumstead immediately stepped into action to help other young patients like her daughter. She created a petition, asking Mattel, the company that makes Ella, to make more chemotherapy Barbies.

After three months the petition had more than 100,000 supporters.

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