Teen gifted car after losing her sister before 16th birthday
A teenager's heartfelt reaction to being gifted a car on her 16th birthday, just over a month after losing her younger sister, was shared on TikTok and has since gone viral.
Earlier this month, Lynn Davis shared a touching video of her daughter Allison opening gifts on her 16th birthday.
The video begins with Allison unwrapping a small toy model of what she thought was her family's recently purchased car. Laughing and grateful, she thanked her parents for the thoughtful gesture.
Moments later, she read aloud a note, found when she opened another box. The heartfelt message praised her kindness, hard work, and growth into a remarkable young woman.
From the box, Allison also discovered a set of keys to the family car she had been practicing driving for months. Overwhelmed with emotion, she held the keys tightly and tearfully thanked her mom.
"It has always been yours," Lynn Davis said in response in the video, which has since garnered over a million views and over a hundred thousand likes.
"Today is our oldests 16th Birthday," Lynn Davis wrote in the caption. "She is a straight A student who wants to graduate as valedictorian and with her AA degree. She is working towards becoming an RN one day."
"She is kind and compassionate and always has a smile that lights a room no matter what," the caption continued. "She is such a good young woman. Our youngest daughter passed away last month, so we knew this birthday would be very hard. She thought us taking her to Disney to get away for her bday was her present…. Little did she know she has been driving her present since March. She deserves the most! #happy16thbirthday #fyp."
Allison told "Good Morning America" she was truly shocked by the gift.
"I didn't think that I honestly deserved a car, because I thought that going to Disney [World] was going to be the major gift," she said. "And then I opened up and I saw I had a car key, and I was like, 'No way.'"
Allison's dad, Barry Davis, said Allison is very deserving of the surprise, especially after around a month and a half, his younger daughter Sophie died on Oct. 4.
"So it's been a rough month and a half for all of us, and we knew this was coming up, and we knew she needed a little bright spot, something to brighten her life up a little bit and cheer her up," Barry Davis said. "So it was emotional and good to see her reaction and to see how happy she was."
Barry Davis said when Sophie was three in 2015, she was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst, the same condition her older sister Allison had as an infant.
While Allison's cyst was successfully treated, Sophie's case became more severe, leading to two aneurysms and a stroke during surgery, which left her dependent on a ventilator and requiring 24/7 care, Barry Davis said. This year, Sophie suffered two more strokes that left her debilitated.
According to the National Institutes of Health, arachnoid cysts are fluid-filled sacs located between the brain or spinal cord and the arachnoid membrane, one of the three layers protecting the brain and spinal cord.
Allison told "GMA" that Sophie was "the best sister that I could have asked for."
"She was like the thing I always look forward to coming home to, and I would always ask about her and be wondering how she's doing," she recalled. "And it was really heartbreaking that she's left the world. But I know it gives us peace knowing that she's not in pain anymore."
Allison also shared that her sister Sophie inspired her dream of becoming a nurse.
For Barry Davis, the message he hopes viewers take away from the video is clear: "Do not take for granted those in your life."
"Take every chance to give them an extra hug, spend an extra five minutes with them," he added. "You never know how long you have with them."
