What was supposed to be a quiet family dinner before another round of chemotherapy turned into a beautiful moment that brought a young cancer patient's father to tears.
The act of kindness occurred on Sunday, when the Short family gathered at a chain restaurant in Maple Ridge.
To an outsider, their dinner at six-year-old Kira's favourite restaurant, Red Robin, may have appeared like any other gathering of a young family. But weighing heavily on her father’s minds was the fact that Kira was about to undergo intense chemotherapy.
Kira has been battling spinal cancer for more than a year, and her family recently learned that the cancer has now spread to her lungs.
Her father, Peter, has had to be off work for more than a year so he can travel with Kira to her medical appointments and specialized treatment as far away as Boston.
While most kids her age are playing, having fun and going to school, Kira has had to spend much of her time in a hospital bed. Despite her diagnosis, her dad says she's still a bright, cheerful child.
"Kira will light up a room. She's always happy, always looking to have a good time," Peter told CTV News.
"Everybody who meets Kira falls in love with her right away."
Perhaps because of her bubbly personality, many members of her community are aware of her struggles. Peter said he's been amazed with the support the family has been given through words of encouragement from the public and through both a GoFundMe page set up to help cover their expenses. The fundraising page had raised more than $25,000 as of Wednesday.
"Without their support, I don't know where we would be," Peter said.
And Sunday's dinner was another example of the kindness of the Shorts' community. When the family finished their food and went to pay the bill, they found a note from an employee of the restaurant instead.
"Dinner's on me tonight," the note read.
"I understand what you are going through, and wanted to let you know you are surrounded by love."
Other staff members pitched in as well, bringing balloons and ice cream to help make the night special for Kira, her three-year-old brother, her father and an aunt.
The gesture deeply moved the Short family.
"It really hit home. With everything that our family's going through, to see something like that happen… It brought tears to my eyes," Peter said.
The kind-hearted stranger who covered the tab wanted to remain anonymous, but CTV found her and convinced her to share her side of the story.
Julia Felton, a hostess at the restaurant, said she felt a connection to the family having recently lost her mother to cancer.
"It really touched me and I knew immediately I had to do something to help them out," she said.
She said she aspires to be like her mother, and tries to be kind even to people she doesn't know to make her mother proud.
She knows how difficult cancer can be, both on patients and their loved ones, and it made her happy to see how much her act of kindness meant to them.
"I know that they're going through a lot right now and no matter what they hear it's never going to make it easier, but it's always important for them to know they're surrounded by love," she said.
"They're surrounded by people that care about them, even if it's a stranger they're meeting for the first time."
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos
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