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Girl Scout, 7, with Pituitary Dwarfism and Epilepsy Sells More Than 1,500 Boxes of Cookies

March 25, 2013

Taylor Godwin, seven years old, is one cookie who doesn’t crumble.

The Girl Scout, battling pituitary dwarfism and epilepsy, is the smallest in her troop but has sold the largest number of cookies. She’s already peddled more than 1,500 boxes — 1,275 of which got donated to U.S. service members as part of the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio’s “Operation: Sweet Appreciation” campaign.

Taylor, a second-grader who favors art class, shows her appreciation by sending her customers thank-you cards with a picture of herself.

To what does she attribute her sweet sales success? Hard work.

“I tried my hardest,” Taylor told TODAY.com.

Blizzards and snowstorms in her corner of the world — Willoughby, Ohio, on Lake Erie — didn’t stop Taylor from selling Samoas (although her mom got sick and couldn’t drive her at times).

Customers who buy Girl Scout Cookies from Taylor Godwin receive this picture with their thank-you cards.

Taylor went well beyond door-to-door sales. She trekked to businesses and nursing homes, and she made sales calls and pushed cookies over email. A local roofing vendor, Willoughby Supply, placed her biggest single order, donating 600 boxes to service members.

“Even if it’s freezing cold and a blizzard, we’re out knocking on doors,” Taylor’s mother, Jamie Hale, told TODAY.com. “It takes her mind from everything.”

“Everything” includes the seizures that have afflicted Taylor since age 2. Her small stature and the fact that the tooth fairy hadn’t visited her once became a medical issue last year, when doctors discovered that her brain’s pituitary gland wasn’t producing any growth hormone.

Taylor has since started taking anti-seizure medications and injections to stimulate her growth. She’s gained three inches in height and nine pounds in weight, and she’s also lost two teeth. Good signs, for now.

Read more at NBC Today. Written by Jasmin Aline Persch.

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