Eight-year-old Jaidyn Solanik was remarkably calm in the moments before she was about to meet teen sensation Justin Bieber, but after what she’s been through it’s pretty hard to faze her.
At the age of five, Jaidyn was mauled by a neighbour’s dog in Delisle. It took 29 stitches to close the wounds in her face. As if that wasn’t enough, while recovering from those injuries doctors discovered a tumour in her brain.
These days, things are looking up. To the surprise of her doctors, the cancer hasn’t returned, and Friday, thanks to the Chris Knox Foundation and C95 radio, Jaidyn got to meet Bieber before his concert at Credit Union Centre.
The wait was long, but spirits were high. Jaidyn, along with an assortment of other girls who got their own short meeting and photo with the 16-year-old pop star, paced about holding posters and other memorabilia they hoped to have him sign.
Unfortunately, the girls were told they wouldn’t be allowed to ask for autographs, but Jaidyn’s mother suggested she just say, “Pretty, pretty please, can I have an autograph?” Jaidyn rehearsed the line over and over.
It’s hard to believe the curly haired girl has been battling cancer for two years. But Jaidyn’s mother, Cindy, says she’s been taken off chemotherapy and for other alternatives and things are working out great.
Initially, the future looked grim. Doctors told her that in all likelihood the cancer would return, but it hasn’t.
“They said if it doesn’t come back in a year, it might not come back at all. So it’s just kind of a waiting game,” said Cindy.
It’s been more than a year and there have been no signs of new growth. Jaidyn is finally getting back to a normal life, and a normal school.
Cancer was the furthest thing from her mind Friday as she danced in the lobby of Credit Union Centre, clutching her Bieber poster. Megan Stambuch, another girl waiting for her face-to-face meeting with the teen idol, hoped to get Bieber to hold her hand in their photo, and that’s not all she planned.
“I want to smell the Biebs,” she said, laughing.
Stambuch said she hoped there would be a little bit of time to talk to him.
“He’s just a smooth talker. You see him on YouTube, or in interviews, he’s got swagger.”
When the group was finally ushered into the stage area, passing the already thick throng of pre-teen girls lined up at the doors at 4:30 p.m., the onlookers squealed with envy.
A few die-hard concertgoers were lined up outside the doors at 3 p.m., already brandishing signs and homemade T-shirts adorned with statements such as, “The future Mrs. Bieber,” or “I heart Bieber.”
The meeting itself came and went in a flash. Jaidyn was brought into a small, curtained-off area and told the rules: No autographs, no big cameras, handlers will take care of the photo.
There was total silence as Bieber’s staffer went to fetch him. Jaidyn fidgeted and tapped her foot. Suddenly, a figure was silhouetted on the curtain, and he quickly popped it open — “Hey!”
He put his arm around Jaidyn, lined up for the photo, swooped his hair out of his eyes, smiled, and she was ushered out the other side for the next group. It was over as soon as it began.
“He’s so short,” said Jaidyn, pleased that she’s got something to brag about at school now, but obviously a little disappointed the meeting was so shortlived.
Her reaction was actually par for the course. Nearly every group emerged from the curtain meeting room with an exclamation of, “He’s so short.”
For some, the moment is too profound for words.
One girl came out bawling. She could hardly speak, but between sobs she managed to yell, “He grabbed me by the hand! He grabbed me by the hand!”
Her mother and a young girl met her outside.
“Is he real?” the young girl asked her.
The tears were answer enough.
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