2-year-old with heart defect goes to prom
INSIDE EDITION - A boy with a congenital heart defect may only be 2 years old, but dressed in a suit and tie, he was the perfect date at his 17-year-old friend’s senior prom.
Finn Blumenthal, 2, of Milford, Va., escorted his friend, Taylor Schafer, 17, to her prom last Friday.
“The prom was everything we thought it would be, and what we hoped for,” Finn’s mom, Kelly Blumenthal told InsideEdition.com. “All the students were being nice about giving him a lot of space.”
From buying Taylor dinner before the dance, to surprising his date with a corsage and a bouquet of roses, his mom even said she has trained little Finn to be the perfect gentleman.
“She said she couldn’t have imagined a better prom,” Blumenthal said of Taylor. “It filled her heart with joy seeing Finn be able to accomplish a milestone we didn’t know was possible.”
Finn was diagnosed with CHD while he was still in his mother’s womb. Since birth, he has undergone more than 10 surgeries, including open heart surgery.
“When you are faced with a medically challenged child and there is an uncertain future at such a young age… as a parent you feel like you are going to be robbed of those milestones like going to prom or getting your driver’s license,” his mom explained.
When Taylor, a friend of the family since 2015, posted on Facebook joking that she didn’t have a date, Blumenthal said she couldn’t help but volunteer her son.
“I think that it all started out as a joke and then when I thought about it, I thought it would really be awesome to give Finn a chance that he may never get,” Taylor told InsideEdition.com in a previous interview.
“We are grateful for Taylor for giving us this opportunity,” Blumenthal said. “No matter what happens in the future if he is able to go to his own prom or he’s not, we will be able to show him pictures and video of him dancing."