A terminally ill 7-year-old girl — who two years ago received Christmas cards from well-wishers around the world — died Friday at her Sanpete County home of an undiagnosed disease that had caused her to stop growing at age 3.
Addie Lynn Fausett was inundated in December 2014 with thousands of Christmas cards addressed to "Little Addie" at P.O. Box 162, Fountain Green, Utah.
At that time, doctors said she might be celebrating her last Christmas.
As her family coped with the realization that Addie was dying, her grandmother came up with the idea to ask people from around the globe to send Christmas cards to cheer her up. Days before the first Facebook post by her grandma, Maree Jensen, Addie had told her mom she wanted friends like her two older sisters and to be able to laugh and play.
"Grandma just wanted to be able to tell Addie she has a lot of friends," said Addie's mother, Tami Fausett, told The Associated Press in 2014. "My mom wanted Addie to think she was really loved. It worked. "
In the first days, they counted the cards one by one. Then a Salt Lake City TV station ran a story, getting the campaign wider exposure, and they were counting them by the thousands. About 3,000 arrived on Dec. 4, 2014, the same day the family attended a funeral for Addie's father, Nathan Paul Fausett.
Tami Fausett said cards came from far off places, including Germany, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
A Friday Facebook posting announcing Addie's death said she "had a zest for life and a way of inspiring many and touched so many deeply.
"Addie was wise beyond her years and quite the charmer with her contagious smile. She had a spark in her eye and a sassy attitude, she loved to spend time with family, to be outdoors, play with her kitty and two dogs Remington and Winnie and was always ready for a new adventure along with riding four wheelers."
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