Saskatchewan girl's inspirational videos draw gift of art supplies from pop singer Halsey

A Saskatchewan girl is learning new skills after receiving a care package of art supplies from pop singer and celebrity Halsey. 

Bella Thomson, 7, has a rare form of dwarfism called cartilage hair hypoplasia (severe) combined immunodeficiency and a rare bowel disease. She has spent much of her young life in hospital and is currently waiting for a bowel transplant. 

Her mom, Kyla Thomson, left her job teaching due to the pandemic and now is a nurse at home for Bella. Kyla started a TikTok account to share inspirational videos of Bella's smile and artwork. Bella now has millions of fans, including Halsey. 

Bella started art therapy while in hospital. It was a safe space for her with no interruptions. 

"I believe art is a relief for her," Kyla said of Bella's artwork. "It's a special time for her to just be herself … art is a way of just building her, building her ability to push through any difficult time."

Bella's videos started going viral in January, 2021. Now each one has about a million views and one has more than 16 million. After going viral, Halsey reached out. 

"It's been really fun and nice to see the love and generosity from people for Bella, — especially from a celebrity like Halsey," " Kyla said. "She messaged me and said that she just after viewing all of those videos and seeing her … she just fell in love with Bella and the type of kid that she is."

In early March, Halsey mailed Bella a large care package filled with an iPad Air, stylus pencil, gift card for the Apple store, professional drawing supplies, a new backpack to carry her supplies and makeup from Halsey's About Face line. 

"I was so happy to see her just excited to try new materials that would just carry on her creativity," Kyla said. "She was just pumped about it like she wants to know how to use every piece of material from the box." 

Kyla posted a video of Bella opening the box and thanking Halsey for the new supplies on March 10.

Kyla says she thinks the videos have resonated with people because through everything Bella has stayed positive. 

"People see she's a happy kid and it kind of blows them away that while she's gone through a lot — that many surgeries, that many hospital procedures, that much pain — and she can still see and find joy in life," Kyla said, "nd I think that's what really connected people to her." 

Kyla hopes people continue to see her videos and see the love for life Bella has and hope for the future.