A mum has praised a stranger after he gifted her sick daughter a Barbie doll in a random act of kindness.

Lianne Bealey was shopping at Asda in Gillingham with her daughter Grace on Friday (April 5) when the man approached her at the self-checkout.

The 40-year-old told KentOnline: “Grace has been in and out of hospital the past couple of weeks and it was the first time we’d gone out since she got back.

“We just popped to Asda for a couple of bits and when we went to pay a lovely man who was shopping with his wife came up to us with a Barbie.

“He said ‘it looks like your little girl’s had a tough time and we’d really love to buy this for her’.

“It was just really lovely of him. We didn’t catch his name or anything, he was a complete stranger.”

When Grace was born she suffered an extensive stroke and has since had after effects.

During the pandemic, the now five-year-old went into a seizure that doctors were unable to get her out of and she was induced into a coma.

Lianne, who lives in Chatham, explained: “She was very very poorly then, we nearly lost her.

“She’s been relatively well until recently.

“In the last couple of weeks she’s had a sudden onset of a lot of seizures and her legs just keep giving way so she’s now in a wheelchair a lot of the time.

“Her mobility has been massively affected.

“She’s now got a hole in her brain which is just slightly bigger than a tennis ball where the brain has started to disintegrate.

“We’re just waiting on some more test results but it could mean quite major surgery in the next year.”

In March, Grace participated in a fundraising 5k walk for Medway-based charity Step and Learn.

She has raised more than £2,000 and donations can be made here.

Lianne added: “She wasn’t able to finish it because of how unwell she’s been so this really has cheered her up at a time when she’s been feeling really low.

“It was just so lovely of him to do that, it has been quite a tough time.

“I’d love to find him to thank him properly, I was just so shocked in the moment.

“When children witness random acts of kindness like that it inspires them to do the same.

“Being in and out of hospital all the time with a poorly child can be lonely and isolating sometimes.

“So to know that someone wanted to do something nice for her just restores your faith in humanity.”