HAMPTON, N.H. (WHDH) - A family in Hampton, New Hampshire is putting the call out for cards as their daughter’s first birthday approaches.
Penelope was born in June of 2019 but spent most of the winter months battling illness after illness.
“She had a very tough winter,” Penelope’s mother Inga Illescas said. “She was sick all the time. Bronchitis, pneumonia, RSV, everything. She was very sick. She had a very tough winter.”
Then, Penelope got sick again just as the coronavirus pandemic began.
Illescas said she is doing much better now.
“She’s doing very good. Thank God, she’s doing very good.”
Due to social distancing, Penelope won’t be able to have the big birthday party her parents were hoping for this year.
“It’s just going to be my husband and I and our doggie Spot and I’m just going to get a few balloons,” her mom said. “It’s just going to be us and I’m going to try and have the family probably in a Skype.”
Instead, her parents are asking for people to send them birthday cards and letters so that one day little Penelope will have something to look back on and remember this special day under special circumstances.
“I just want to have a nice memory for her and I say, Listen when you were little, everything came bad in one beginning but mommy tried, daddy too.”
Those looking to send Penelope a birthday message can send it to:
5 Moore ave
Hampton, NH
03842
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)