A blind Florida boy battling brain cancer got a special gift in the mail from a country star in Nashville Tuesday.
Ayden Morgan, 9, is a huge Kelsea Ballerini fan. When his mom checked the mail, she found the surprise sent over by the star.
A Facebook video shows the fourth-grader inside their Ocala home, pulling an electric guitar out of a box. It was a gift from singer/songwriter Ballerini.
“I feel great, I feel amazing. It makes my heart feel full of love,” Ayden said in a phone call on Thursday. “Her music helps me through when I do surgeries and in the MRI machine. I listen to her songs every time.”
Ayden was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor when he was 3 years old, complications from which eventually cause him to go blind, his mother, Tiffany Henke, said.
“Cancer is a part of our life,” she said. “He’ll be in some form of treatment for the rest of his life. It’s normal for us.”
Ayden said Ballerini’s music calms him and makes him happy. A born performer, he sings and plays piano and guitar, his mom said.
Henke said the guitar came in a box addressed from Nashville and on the heels of her son meeting the 26-year-old singer at a concert in St. Augustine earlier this year. She wasn’t sure what to expect when she opened it, but she recognized the hearts drawn around Ayden’s name on a card as being similar to those Ballerini draws.
“I blubbered like a baby; I still am. When I realized who it was from, I took the tape off and got it ready to let him open it up,” she said.
In the box was a white electric guitar personalized with Ayden’s name in both letters and braille.
The pair met at a meet-and-greet event in April, where they discussed their love for the instrument.
“She said, ‘Well, we’ll have to jam someday,'” Henke remembered.
A handwritten note with the guitar read, “Meeting you in St. Augustine really touched my heart, and I wanted to get you a special guitar to encourage you to keep playing and using your gift. All my love. Kelsea.”
Ayden is still learning how to play the electric guitar, and the one from Ballerini is a little big for the child, so he hasn’t played much on it yet.
He says his favorite song by Ballerini is a tie between “Dibs” and “Yeah Boy.”
“I like a little bit of everything,” he said. “I’m not too picky with my music.”
“Thank you, Kelsea, for this incredible gift. You have forever impacted Ayden’s heart and life,” Henke said.
