A nine-year-old girl who is free of cancer after undergoing 841 days of chemotherapy will be riding in a float at this year's Santa Claus Parade.
Helena Kirk, who was diagnosed with leukemia when she was three-years-old, will be waving from the Swarovski float on Sunday, as the annual parade makes its way through downtown Toronto.
"(I will be) smiling and waving, and waving and smiling," Kirk told CTV Toronto.
For the past five years, Kirk has been watching the parade from her room at Sick Kids Hospital.
She says while she is excited to be taking part in this year's festivities, she will also be thinking about the other children who are still patients at Sick Kids.
"It feels delightful that they can see the Santa Claus parade and they can have smiles on their faces when such bad things are happening," she said.
Kirk is an ambassador for Sick Kids. Her parents say she has a giving spirit, and has wanted to give back to the hospital and the organizations that have helped her family since the day she started treatment.
"She was always really eager and still does volunteer work every month, sometimes two or three times a month," Kirk’s mother Sarah Calderwood said.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Ashley Rowe
