Two months after her first birthday, Brynn Munger had her left eye removed. The toddler was diagnosed with undifferentiated glaucoma in 2015 — the result of a rare cancer developing in her eye.
The brave and beautiful little girl celebrated her third birthday last week and received the surprise of a lifetime: a specially crafted bunny doll that looks just like her.
“When Brynn opened the gift, she was excited and noticed right away that the doll was special,” Danielle Munger, Brynn’s mother, told Care.com. “It was a busy afternoon with lots of family, but Brynn wouldn’t go to the next present until she got a good look at the doll and was proud to show her off to everyone.”
The one-of-a-kind rabbit was made just for the animal-loving little girl by Sebastian Design, a handmade doll shop based in Idaho. Munger found the custom shop while scrolling through her Facebook feed and knew the plush toy would be the perfect birthday gift for her daughter.
“We’ve put eye patches on dolls before, but this is the first doll that’s just as special as her,” said Munger. “As Brynn grows older, I know she will really cherish it.”
After the hustle and bustle of the party, the mom and daughter duo were reading books before bed. That’s when Brynn really took notice of the doll’s resemblance to her.
“Brynn said, ‘Sparkle has one eye, just like me!’” Munger said. “It was neat to start talking to her about it. We talked about how Sparkle was sick but now she’s healthy, and she’s unique, too, just like Brynn.”
Munger and her husband didn’t think much of Brynn’s drooping eyelid at first and figured it was a result of the young girl pressing her face into the pillow or sheets during nap time. But after a couple of days, Brynn’s parents noticed that the eye was not improving and took her straight to the doctor, where she received her diagnosis. The entire process, from beginning to end, brought the Munger family closer than ever.
“It’s amazing how the child is the one with the cancer but the whole family feels it,” Munger said. “We all hurt but then we emerged much stronger and closer.”
Brynn’s cancer was removed in May 2015, and she hasn’t missed a beat since.
“She can do anything any other kid can do, and if you hadn’t seen that she’d lost her eye, you’d have no idea,” Munger said of the flourishing tot, who loves to play at the park and swim in the pool. “We tell her there isn’t anything she can’t do.”
