SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – A toddler was reunited with her “daddy doll” at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport on Saturday after losing it on a flight.
The ‘daddy doll’ belongs to 18-month-old Kenley, of Beaufort. It depicts her father, who is a Marine and is deployed overseas. The doll has a voice box inside that says “Hi Kenley! I love you!” every time Kenley squeezes it.
Kenley’s mother, Arielle Britton, says her daughter carries the doll with her everywhere she goes. This week however, Kenley’s ‘daddy doll’ got lost on a Delta flight from Hartford, Connecticut to Atlanta. Britton said she did not realize the doll was missing until she and Kenley were already on board their next flight.
“I realized that we didn’t have him, so I told the flight attendant, and she got in touch with the gate,” Britton said. “Things started rolling from there.”
Britton said she posted about the lost doll on Facebook. A friend later shared it on Twitter, where it gained viral attention.
Delta searched high and low and finally found “daddy doll” on Friday!
The airline decided that the doll was far too special to mail, so “daddy doll” flew in style to Sav/HHI, the closest airport to the Britton home.
Kenley and “daddy doll” were reunited on Saturday. Two Delta employees returned the doll to Kenley and surprised her with a stuffed Delta airplane and American flags.
Britton says she is relieved and says Kenley has had trouble sleeping since Wednesday without “daddy doll”. However, she says watching complete strangers step up and help her daughter over the past few days has been extremely inspiring.
“Regardless if it happened or not, we were just thankful and blessed to see how everyone came together,” Britton said.
A woman from New England reached out to Britton, made a brand new “daddy doll” and got it in the mail to South Carolina within an hour and a half.
“Social media can be used for such terrible things, and everybody used it for good,” Britton said.