Lights for Ella

CBN.com Who doesn’t love lots of Christmas lights and Disney characters!  Put them together and it’s no wonder why families flock to this home in Chesapeake, Virginia over the Christmas season. But there's one night people come for an even better reason.

Miss Ella Wells, all of seven years old, has lived with a brain tumor now for four years. Thanks to modern medicine and prayer, the tumor is stabilized.   While her family is thanful for that, they are still overwhelmed by years of hefty medical bills.  So for the past four years, CBN employee Mike Stonecypher and his family have been making their grand light display a fundraiser for Ella and her family.

"I keep sayin’ I’m gonna stop when I’m up on that ladder, but it just keeps getting bigger and better every year," Mike says.

Ella says, "I like it. It makes me really happy."

The support and the love behind it make her parents happy too. Her father Rick Wells says, "It continues to amaze us. The support we get knowing that we have family and friends to help is a blessing."

"Sounds cliché," her mother Amy says, "but there’s just no way we could do this without support, not just financially, but emotionally, of friends and strangers."

SInce the fundraiser started, the community has given thousands of dollars to help the family. Mike says while it is a little extra work, to him and his family, it's all worth it.  "This little girl, who’s got a brain tumor this time of year – what better time to give to the community and help someone."