3-Year-Old Cancer-Fighting 'Wonder Woman' Gets Like From Lynda Carter
Sophia Sandoval got her final chemotherapy treatment in costume.
-- A 3-year-old Texas girl who marked the end of eight months of chemotherapy treatment in a Wonder Woman costume got the ultimate “like” -- from Lynda Carter.
Carter, who played the role of the female superhero in the 1970s TV series, took to Facebook Tuesday to share the photo of Sophia Sandoval, who was diagnosed with medulloblastoma last May.
The photo shows a costume-clad Sophia standing at the top of her hospital bed with one arm in the air and other holding a sign that read, “My last day of chemo. It was tough, but I was tougher.”
Carter shared the photo along with the caption, “A real-life little WW! Let’s show her some love.”
The photo on Carter’s page has received more than 55,000 likes.
“We felt so happy and so special because we didn’t really expect that,” Sophia’s mother, Rossio Sandoval, told ABC News. “It is so awesome because I know a lot of people who see this will see that my daughter is kicking cancer, and maybe it will help others.”
Sandoval took the picture of Sophia on her bed at San Antonio's Methodist Children's Hospital last Friday.
“We were just waiting for her dad and grandmothers,” Sandoval said. “I put her in the costume and she was so excited.”
“She was like, ‘I’m done. I want to go home,’” she said.
Sophia, according to her mom, loves superheroes and watched her favorites -- Super Woman, Wonder Woman and the pink Power Ranger -- throughout her chemotherapy treatments.
“When she was taking the medicine, we would tell her she was going to get Super Woman or Wonder Woman powers,” Sandoval said.
The toddler, who underwent a four-hour surgery in May to remove a brain tumor, will soon undergo an MRI to make sure she is cancer-free. According to her mom, she no longer needs a walker and is back to playing as usual at the family’s San Antonio home.
On Tuesday, the Jessie Rees Foundation -- a California-based cancer foundation that Sandoval said provided endless support to her, her husband, Ricky, and Sophia -- also posted Sophia’s photo on its Facebook page.
That posting, shared by Carter, now has more than 1 million likes on its own.
“You’re always scared of cancer and the fear that it will come back,” Sandoval said. “I told my husband, every one of those likes is a blessing for her and one that is helping us.
“Hopefully, it’s helping other people see that not every story has a sad ending,” she said.