Everyone knows that Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. But this past Sunday, there were some 40 cars in the drive-through line at the Chick-fil-A on Airport Boulevard in Mobile – which might have caused some confusion.

In this case, the restaurant chain made an exception to their rule for a special boy’s 14th birthday. Elijah Sprague was born very prematurely at just 22 weeks gestation. As a result, he suffered from brain bleeds that led to cerebral palsy and autism.

After being born at home, Elijah was brought to the neonatal intensive care unit of the University of South Alabama Children’s and Women’s Hospital, where Rene Sprague worked as a nurse. He was in the NICU for six months and was going to be placed in foster care upon discharge from the hospital.

Meanwhile, Rene and her husband, Patrick, were trying to adopt a baby, but the adoption had fallen through. They needed a baby, and Elijah needed parents. “We decided to take him,” she says. “He was ours the minute we brought him home.”

At the time, they didn’t know the extent of his brain injury. A neurologist told the Spragues that he would be surprised if Elijah made it to his first birthday.

“We lived in fear for a while,” Rene says. But once Elijah turned one, she knew he was going to live. “My biggest thing was that I wanted him to be a happy kid,” she says. “We try hard to do things that make him happy.”

Chick-fil-A is at the top of a long list of things that make Elijah happy – also including, in no particular order, hip hop, horses, Target, elevators, “Ellen” (“He calls her ‘Clap Clap’ or ‘Dance,’” his mom says), La Cocina Mexican restaurant, his younger siblings Henry and Lucy and Spaghettios.

It so happens that Elijah’s uncle, Walt Gilstrap, is one of the managers at the Chick-fil-A on Airport Boulevard. On a whim, Rene asked Walt if it might be possible to have a birthday party there when the restaurant was closed. To her surprise, the owner-operator, Glenn Rosson, gave his blessing.

Walt and his girlfriend went in early to make cookies that Elijah proudly handed to his friends, along with drinks, through the drive-through window. Elijah received his own Chick-fil-A polo shirt and a name tag, and his guests came inside to play in the indoor playground.

Since his party, he keeps asking to go back to see “Walk,” as he calls his uncle, at “Lay,” as he refers to Chick-fil-A.

“He’s a really funny kid,” she says of Elijah, whose actual birthday was Jan. 4. “We have a great community of people who support him.”