Some of the Project Princess Club members pose for a picture at the Christmas with a Princess event. The party was held at Gigi’s Playhouse on Dec. 11 for children with Down syndrome.
When 4-year-old Phoebe Dooley saw Cinderella at her front door, it was as if the tumor on her brainstem had disappeared — if only for a moment.
The blond-haired princess, whom Phoebe recognized from movies, was somehow at her home in Gainesville, just for her. And she brought along a pony.
But how would Cinderella get back to her castle? Phoebe wondered.
Phoebe, who lives in Gainesville with her parents, Cole and Sarah Dooley, is sick. She has diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an aggressive brain cancer that has manifested as an inoperable tumor.
After 30 rounds of radiation, Phoebe is responding well to treatment, but likely won’t live for longer than three more years, her mother said.
But on that magical day in September, the little girl with long, dirty-blond hair was squealing and jumping and smiling.
For Kierra Brown, that makes it all worth it.
“You can bring them into this magical world where anything is possible and dreams come true,” the 25-year-old Santa Fe College student said. “It’s almost like me living my fairytale life and me getting my happily ever after.”
About six years ago, Brown decided to spend her days donning a wig and green dress and spreading the wonder of Disney princesses to the children’s units of UF Health Shands Hospital, where an escape to a far-off world is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.
When she was younger, every birthday ended in the same wish for Brown.
She would blow out her candles and dream of Walt Disney World — of seeing her favorite animated princesses in the flesh and immersing herself in a fantasy land.
But, because money was tight, she never went.
“I want to give a lot of kids that opportunity and that experience I didn’t get to have for myself,” she said.
When Brown was a junior at UF, before she enrolled part-time at Santa Fe, she developed a peculiar hobby. She would dress up as Tiana, the main character from “The Princess and the Frog,” and attend children’s birthday parties.
Soon after, she turned that passion into her own company, Capes and Tiaras.
In 2013, Capes and Tiaras made its first volunteering appearance at Gainesville’s hospitals to visit children at long-term inpatient units at Shands. Brown loved the volunteer work, so in Fall, she started Project Princess, a UF organization dedicated solely to hospital visits with students dressed up as princesses. In the future, the group plans to take its princess act to children in other countries as part of a mission trip, possibly to South or Central America.
The club now has about 50 members and 15 actresses who serve as princesses. They visit Shands inpatient facilities every month and, this Spring, will start visiting the UF Health Medical Plaza, where children go to receive outpatient treatment.
Once a month, Kailyn Allen’s cheeks blush, her hair turns blond and she transforms into Cinderella, the very princess Phoebe fell in love with in September.
Allen, a 22-year-old UF law student, once worked as a paid actor for Brown’s company. And when Brown decided to create Project Princess, she asked Allen to be its president.
“I absolutely fell in love with it,” Allen said.
For Allen, becoming Cinderella is more than cosmetic trickery. It’s about becoming a role model.
“She’s always kind, always courageous and always hopeful, even when things seem really bad,” Allen said about her role as Cinderella. “I think that’s why she translates so well to the children we’re going to visit.”
In order to become a princess like Allen and Brown, volunteers have to go through a vigorous audition process, Allen said. In addition to physically resembling a princess, their personality has to shine through.
“For me, I really look for inner beauty,” Allen said. “I think that it’s important to me to have girls who have really good hearts.”
But turning students into royalty takes hard work — and a lot of makeup.
After they’re selected, the princesses have to go through a Princess Bootcamp, she said. They spend three hours with a professional acting coach and an additional hour with a professional makeup artist, learning how to transform into their character with eye shadow, lipstick and false eyelashes, Brown said.
“There’s lots that go into it, including nail-polish color and the shoes that they’re wearing,” Allen said.
For Allen, interacting with kids like Phoebe is why she became the organization’s president in the first place. Seeing their smiles and watching them run into her arms makes the busy law school schedule and long hours working with the volunteers worth it.
“For me, this is the most important part of my life,” she said. “Everything else comes second after this, including law school.”
For Phoebe, meeting Cinderella was a dream come true. She and Allen decorated tiaras and did each other’s makeup. They walked hand in hand, Cinderella’s white gloves grasping Phoebe’s hands.
Allen said meeting kids like Phoebe puts her life in perspective. Although their time together was short, it was one of the most memorable experiences she’s ever had.
“She was still the brightest light of joy,” she said. “To be able to bring joy to these kids, that’s what it’s all about.”
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knewberg@alligator.org
Dressed as Cinderella, Kailyn Allen, a 22-year-old UF law student, reads a book to 4-year-old Phoebe Dooley. Dooley was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor in March 2016.
UF tourism and hospitality management sophomore Whitney Mecca, dressed as Elsa from “Frozen,” and UF psychology freshman Cassie Mead, dressed as Anna, visit a young patient at UF Health Shands Hospital.
A group of princesses make a visit to a patient at UF Health Shands Hospital. The princesses visit the hospital once a month.
