Virginia Mom's Emotional Facebook Plea Has Thousands Promising to Fulfill Son's Birthday Wish
— -- Traci Eubank said she was shocked to see that thousands of strangers had responded to her heavy-hearted Facebook post, requesting for help to fulfill her son Camden's birthday wish of having a colossal water balloon fight.
"I thought 10 or 12 kids would come and once we did the page, it took off," Eubank of Roanoke, Virginia told ABC News. "It's amazing how many people have done this and it has restored my faith in humanity.
"I just never imagined that anyone would do this for my little guy."
Eubank said her son Camden, who will turn 10 on July 6, was born a late talker who was later diagnosed with apraxia of speech, a disorder that causes him trouble pronouncing words and sounds.
"Basically it means the brain has trouble telling the mouth how to move its muscles," she said. "So, a 'T-H' sound comes out as an 'M' sound. He also has some coordination issues with fine motor skills like holding a pencil."
Eubank said that while she and her family can understand his speech, others have trouble making out his words.
The mom of two said she feels that Camden's speech impediment and the fact that he is home-schooled, interferes with his ability to make friends.
"We home-school him because they wanted to put him in special ed classes," Eubank said. "There's no reason for him to be in special ed — he helps my 12-year-old with her homework.
"Where we live there aren’t many kids," she added. "One neighborhood kid would come out and play, but when he hit middle school he didn’t want to hang out with Cam because 'it wasn’t cool.' Cam 'didn’t talk right.'"
Eubank said that Camden had been asking her for a month now to have a big water balloon fight for his upcoming birthday.
"I bought pack of invitations and started filling them out," she said. "I thought to myself, 'It's so unfair. There's just no one to invite to this party. How can I have a huge water balloon party with four or five kids?"
Saddened by her realization, Eubank said she took to her apraxia support group on Facebook to vent. It was then, she said, that another mom suggested she make a page announcing the details of Camden's birthday bash.
In just three days, about 3,800 people liked the page.
"I sat him down Monday and explained to him what had happened," Eubank said. "I offered to delete it if he didn’t want to go with it.
"I just didn’t want it to upset or embarrass him, but he said he was fine with it."
The "Despicable Me" themed party will take place on July 6 at 6:00 PM at Troutville Park in Troutville, Virginia —- complete with tons of water balloons, water guns, and a fire hose from a firetruck to soak the kids.
Eubank said friends and neighbors are trying to urge local businesses to donate food for the event.
As for Camden, Eubank said she hopes the party is everything he's hoped for.
"He's super excited," Eubank said. "He’s an awesome kid and it's not just because he's mine.
"I do worry about it [bullying] happening throughout his life, but I know every time it does, we can't just have a huge water balloon fight," she added. "Instead, I hope we can prepare him for it and help him through it."
