Elizabeth Myers was born with significant hearing loss, and in the next few years, her vision will start to fade as well.
While she can still see, her parents want her to take in as much of the world as she can. On Wednesday, she got a rare vision: The sight of Pope Francis, leaning down to kiss her head and pat her cheek.
“She was totally big-eyed and it was a very powerful moment for her,” the Ohio 5-year-old’s mother, Christine Myers, told the Associated Press.
Lizzy’s parents have not told her yet that she was born with Usher syndrome II, a genetic disease that will eventually take her sight. But she knows all about Pope Francis. Before the family of four traveled to Italy, a free trip from an airline that heard about Lizzy’s condition, Lizzy told her dad that she wanted to give a hug to “the tall man with gray hair with the big white hat.”
On Wednesday, she got her wish, reported Washington Post.
Lizzy’s dad Steven Myers told the Post before the trip that he and his wife, both Catholics, were praying the pope could help their daughter. “You know, the idea of being in Rome and being in basically the focal point of our religion — we’re hoping for a miracle.”