Harmonie-Rose Ivy Allen, age 2, had never seen anyone just like her.
The curly haired toddler had never set her big eyes on someone who looked just like her - someone, that is, with no legs and no arms.
Until an American Girl doll recently arrived, replete with prosthetics for all four limbs. “Mummy, she’s just like me. I love her,” the 2-year-old told her mother, Freya Mae Hall, at their home in Bath, Great Britain.
“I got it for her because I think that she’s going to have to face some hard times in her life,” Hall told InsideEdition.com Tuesday. “I believe that showing her she’s not the only one will help her through these times.”
Harmonie was 11 months old she fell ill and was eventually diagnosed with meningitis B, which ate away at her small body until doctors were forced to amputate her arms above the elbows and her legs above knees. It also devoured a small part of her nose.
She is a smiling, loving child who’s been known to introduce herself to other kids by explaining, “I have no hands.”
Her mother does not cater to Harmonie, nor does she let her stop trying when things get a little rough.
Hall gently pushes her, saying “You can do it. Clever girl.” When Harmonie struggles to pick up something with her stub of an arm, her mum tells her, “I’m not helping you. You can do it.”
The doll, named Rebecca, was purchased in New York by a friend and brought to Bath for Harmonie’s third birthday, which is in November.
But when her mom saw the playmate, she couldn’t wait to give her to Harmonie.
They’ve been constant companions ever since.
The girl’s mother hopes the doll’s prosthetic legs and arms will encourage Harmonie. The child doesn’t much like using them.
Rebecca, hopefully, will show her “that prosthetics are not there to hinder her, but are there to help her achieve things.”
The little girl seems to be doing just fine on her own. She scoots around on her bottom, can stand on her amputated legs and can feed herself.
She even draws smiley faces.
“She can do anything she sets her mind to!”
Watch: Little Girl Sheds Tears Of Joy Receiving Doll With Matching Prosthetic Leg
