Amy Stidd may not see another Christmas. So she worked hard Thursday to make this one special.
The 10-year-old Kearns girl has undergone three kidney transplants. Each failed and there likely will be no more. She's attached to a dialysis machine three times a week and spends much of her time hospitalized.Amy recognizes her situation and has even faced family and friends with the harsh truth that she likely will not live.
When her sisters participated during recent Shop-With-A-Cop activities at Kmart, Amy was in the hospital and relayed her disappointment of missing the fun to an aunt, Elli Spencer, of Sandy.
"She calls and says, `I'm in this dumb hospital again. I need you,' " her aunt recalled.
Spencer contacted the West Jordan Kmart, hoping she could take Amy shopping since the girl had missed the actual activities. She planned to do it on her own and only asked that an officer might be present to make it more realistic.
Instead, Kmart manager Dave Hurley rolled out the red carpet, recruited West Valley police officer Woody Woodruff and even mobilized the Shop-With-A-Cop elves and Santa Claus. The girl and her aunt were treated to breakfast at Village Inn and transported to the store by West Valley and West Jordan police.
"This is what resulted," Spencer said Thursday, gesturing to an entourage of elves and well-wishers trailing behind the girl's wheelchair. "They felt she should have her chance, too."
Stidd brought along a list of gifts for her family and spent more than an hour wheeling through the aisles, pointing out items that caught her attention.
"When I say, `Stop,' that means I saw something," she told Woodruff. Beguiled by the girl's wide smile and sweet voice, the officer and his elves presented Amy with housewares and timepieces, clothes and toys - watching as she efficiently checked off each item.
"I told her to make a list, so she's been busy," Spencer said. "She said, `I can't shop for Mom if she goes.' That's why I'm here."
Donations from Kmart customers fund the annual Shop-With-A-Cop. The project was so successful this year that coordinators anticipate expanding it to more stores in 1995. Some 450 kids and nearly 500 police officers participated in the 1994 Shop-With-A-Cop at Kmart stores statewide.
For Amy, the attention she received Thursday created memories likely to last her lifetime.
"We're just going to get a few things for everybody," she said. And not until everyone else was accounted for did Amy think of herself and pick up a few items to keep. Santa Claus burst into the store near the end of the shopping spree and presented the girl with gifts of her own.
"Just what I wanted for Christmas, a Ken (doll)," Amy said. Later, the Kmart photographer gave Amy a $100 photo package with Santa and volunteers presented her with her own elf suit.
For Spencer, the moment was bittersweet. She'd lost her own daughter several years ago. The girl would have turned 25 on Saturday. Her husband has also passed away.
"This has helped me as much as it helped her," Spencer said of Amy's morning at the store.
"When they called, I said, `Wow, maybe there is a Santa Claus after all,' " she said.
"It makes you feel Christmas through a child's eyes. This is what making memories is all about."