OAK GROVE, Mo. — Hundreds of hours have gone into building a house of fears in the yard of one Oak Grove resident. The thousands of dollars of materials used for the large spread mostly donated by people in the community. The reason? An eight-year old girl who’s facing much more than the scare the haunted house will give people Halloween night.
Bailey Bennett has been through a lot in her eight years. Diagnosed with stage-four Neuroblastoma when she was just 22 months old, Bailey fought to beat cancer once.
“Fought that for a year-and-a-half and was in remission for 3.5 years and then …,” Bennett’s mother, Nichole Polen explained.
But one year ago the cancer came back.
“She’s strong. She’s a trooper,” Polen said.
Determined to beat it again, Bennett and her mother have been traveling back and forth to a hospital in Cincinnati for a new experimental treatment. And Wednesday afternoon when Bennett stepped off the plane, she walked into the spread set up in her name.
“We’ve got corn. We’ve got scarecrows. We’ve got pumpkins hanging in the trees that will be all lit up,” Sean McLaughlin said while giving the little girl a tour of the Boo for Bailey House of Fears.
McLaughlin, friends, and even people who have never met Bennett or her mom have pitched in the last few weeks to help.
“We have had lots of donations from the community. It has been completely amazing how the community has come together,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin’s love of Halloween has turned into a gift for Bennett and her family.
“It means a lot to me to know that they love my daughter as much as I do, you know that they want to do something for us,” Polen said.
It’s a way to raise money for the long trips to the hospital and needs of the little girl who’s already faced so much.
“Every time I read a little bit about Bailey or see her picture or see her at other activities, its just … it tugs at me because I think how fortunate I am,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said it’s also to rally the community who wants Bennett to know it’s fighting with her every step of the way.
“You know to me it means more to me than just the money. It means that these people care about other people and they just want to help you know,” Polen said.
The haunted house will be open Halloween night from 6-10:30pm — McLaughlin is just asking for donations for Bailey at the end of the haunted tour.
For more information on the Boo for Bailey House of Fears, you can visit this link and for more information on Bailey Bennett and her fight against cancer you can visit this link.