On Aug. 15, 2015, Analiese Madison Cook was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 3. She will be required to undergo up to three years of chemotherapy at Batson Children’s Hospital.

Arabella Jackson, a 10-year-old student at Loyd Star Attendance Center, heard about the diagnosis and wanted to help. So she began to raise money to purchase a Truly Me doll from American Girl.

The goal of the doll is to provide Cook with a companion — someone who looks like Cook and who is experiencing the same disease, and who can accompany her to the hospital for treatments.

“They have the same disease and everything, so they can have somebody to be there with them,” Jackson said.

It was around Christmas when Jackson presented Cook with the Truly Me doll. She spent a few hours playing with Cook and the doll, and she said the experience was very positive.

“She kept asking me to help her make food for it,” Jackson said. “I ran around the kitchen with her. She wouldn’t stop playing with it.”

Included with the doll was a letter from the doll itself. Analiese’s mother Angela Cook requested the name Arabella for the doll so Analiese would never forget the name of the person who gave the doll to her. The letter emphasized that the doll would be with Analiese through difficult times.

“I’m also going through something kind of scary, just like you,” the letter said. “I thought maybe you could be my friend and help me when I get scared, or sad or sick. We can go to the hospital together, and when the doctors take care of you they can take care of me, too.”

Jackson hasn’t stopped with just one doll, and she said she’s almost ready to order a second. But progress has been slow. The dolls cost around $125 — quite a lot of money for a 10-year-old girl. Some of the money was raised by selling chocolate bars, and she hopes to run a lemonade stand this summer, but she has also started a campaign, aptly named “Dolls for a Cause” at the crowd-funding site www.gofundme.com/3b3krmwxw

Angela Cook said her daughter understands more than you might think, and the doll has helped her deal with her treatments.

“It’s the little things,” she said. “People think when you’re going through something so serious as a cancer diagnoses, ‘is it really going to make a difference?’ It does.”