Bebe has unlisted an unlikely designer for its latest handbag: a teenager suffering from a brain tumor from Kentucky.
14-year-old Abigail Gebauer designed The Abigail handbag after making an appeal to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Abbie worked with Bebe designers to create the purple quilted purse which bears her name. The fashion house has created 600 of the bags which will be available at Bebe stores around the country and online.
“They went above and beyond my wish,” Abbie told The Enquirer. “It was more than I ever could have imagined.“
The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of hundreds of sick children every year, but the charity’s directors say Abbie’s wish was particularly special.
“We send lots of kids to Disney World, but when we have a little girl, actually a woman, who says ‘I just want to make something that is lasting that will be displayed in a store on Rodeo Drive,’ that really got the attention of a lot of people, not only at the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but also at Bebe,” said Nancy Whetstone, director of Marketing and Public Relation for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana.
Abbie was diagnosed with a brain tumor in January of 2009. She has responded well to radiation and chemotherapy, and doctors are optimistic that she will make a full recovery.
