A Newfoundland town temporarily changed its name to support a three-year-old girl battling cancer.
"Welcome to Islaview," read signs in the town of Deer Lake on Friday, in support of Isla Short, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma when she was a year old.
Local businesses, the RCMP and city council all changed their names, and the town held a benefit concert in the evening to support Short's treatment.
The town's name was chosen from a children's book written by Short's uncle. "A Town Called Islaview" tells the story of a grumpy stranger who wanders into the town, and as residents tell the visitor the town's name, he starts to smile and decides to stay.
City council voted unanimously for the temporary name change, The Western Star reported.
"Hopefully, the more people saying 'Islaview' or 'I love you' on May 26 the more it will change people, in a good way," Short's mother Sarah told CBC News.
Sarah said that Isla relapsed in December, but since then has responded well to treatment and has kept on fighting.
“This is not just about Isla today, this is Isla reminding everybody that there is more to life … to be kind, share the love and put a smile on somebody’s face,” Amanda Freake, a friend of the Short family, said in an interview with The St. John's Telegram.
Dan Bursey, the book's author, told The Western Star that the small town has come together to help support his niece.
“People are rooting for her," he said.