A special prom escort for a terminally ill teen gave her the chance to be the 'princess she deserves.'
Mum Tessa Lewis will not see her 16-year-old daughter Eden get married or take part in other landmark occasions and anniversaries as she has only months to live.
Preparing for her school prom was full of emotion for her family and they wanted to make it a special event for her to remember.
As a career, being police dog handler was top of Eden's list because she loves animals.
WalesOnline reports Gwent Police heard she wanted a special way to get to her high school prom, and were more than happy to help.
Off-duty officers answered the call from local charity Dreams & Wishes to make sure the teen got to the Islwyn High School event at the Bryn Meadows Hotel & Spa in style.
It was a bittersweet moment for Tessa as she watched her beautiful daughter get ready and be driven away in a friend's green Mustang, surrounded by the police escort.
"It was so hard because I was thinking we should be repeating the getting ready on her wedding day," said Tessa, from Caerphilly, Wales.
"I realised this was the only chance she was going to get to dress up and be the princess that she so deserves to be, so we wanted to make it special.
"A friend answered our call to take photographs. I wanted to make sure I wasn't distracted by having to take pictures, and I wanted to be in the moment with my beautiful daughter.
"I did tell Eden just before about the police escort because otherwise it would have been too much for her to take in. She has always, always wanted to work with animals and be a police dog handler.
"When she got her cancer diagnosis, she knew that she will not be able to do it, but the officers brought along one of the police dogs and she was able to handle it, so that is another thing she has done."
Eden's determination to get to her prom, shows the spirit she has displayed since being diagnosed with cancer just over two years ago.
She even had some rainbow beads attached to a purple ribbon tied into her prom dress.
The beads symbolised the children on Rainbow Ward at Noah's Ark Children's Hospital in Cardiff, who lost their battle with cancer and Eden took them with her to her prom.
When doctors broke the devastating news earlier this year that she only had months to live, the schoolgirl responded by revising trigonometry for her maths GCSE.
And just days later she sat as many of the exams as she could.
Eden was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, and had to have a 13cm tumour removed from her right thigh. She also had to have two operations to remove active cancers from her lungs.
Four days after her daughter started chemotherapy Tessa gave birth to her youngest daughter.
"Eden was going through chemo and I couldn't be with her," said Tessa.
"It got worse because my baby was diagnosed with meningitis at two weeks old, so I was in hospital with my sick daughter, while my other very sick daughter was having treatment in another hospital.
"Thankfully, my mum was amazing and stayed with Eden. People asked me how I coped, but I just had to get up and do it.
"I don't think I am coping, I am just getting on with what I have to do. My children needed me and I just had to do what I could, but it was very hard and made harder by coronavirus.
"When normally you would have had people coming and going to help, all they could do was stand on the doorstep.
"We couldn't risk touching anyone, so we it was just our little bubble, but the community have been absolutely amazing.
"We have had so much support, and so many people helped to make her prom experience so amazing.
"She had a great time. We had arranged that she would leave a bit early because she is normally in bed by 8pm, but she said that it was perfect.
"There were no crowds of people as she left, and that is how she wanted to do it.
"Eden is absolutely speechless still about the police escort, she was blown away.
"She’s so thankful for the officers escorting her to prom and making a nerve-wracking journey fun and exciting.
"I’m so thankful to the officers for taking time out of their day to help escort Eden to prom, and also for taking time beforehand talking to Eden and her brother and sister, showing them the vehicles and dogs.
“They made an emotional moment so much more special.”
Gwent Police said: "One of Eden's wishes was to be escorted to her prom in a police convoy, and so when we were asked if we could help our officers were more than happy to help bring her wish to life.
Inspector Matthew Havard said: "We were honoured when Dreams and Wishes asked us to be a part of making Eden's wish come true, and were glad we could help make this special occasion memorable for Eden and her family."
Tony Curtis, chairman and founder of Dreams & Wishes, said: “A huge thank you to Gwent Police to help fulfil the dreams of a young girl, without them this wouldn’t have been possible.”
