Barbie has been an astronaut, a chef, and even president of the United States. But her friend Ella is a survivor. Ella is a bald doll Mattel made to inspire children suffering from diseases like cancer and alopecia, which cause them to lose their hair. The dolls are distributed via a network of children's hospitals, which is how California mom Melissa Bumstead got one for her 4-year-old daughter Grace, who is battling leukemia. When Bumstead learned there were only a small number of the dolls available and not every kid would be able to get one, she petitioned Mattel to create more so that every child undergoing chemo could have one. The company said yes.

Unlike Barbie, Ella dolls are not sold in stores, and aren't marketed or advertised. "We make Ella for just one reason — because it's the right thing to do," Alex Clark, a spokesperson for Mattel, tells Yahoo Shine. "The idea is that a boy or girl can play and interact with a fashion doll that is going through what they're going through. Ella is not a doll we will ever sell. It's a donation we make." The doll comes with two wigs as well as scarves and other headwear, but she wears the same size as Barbie and can wear other outfits sold by Mattel.

For families like the Bumsteads, having an Ella doll can make a big difference. "It gave us the chance to say, 'Here’s a beautiful, smiling doll. It doesn’t have hair,'" Melissa Bumstead told CBS Los Angeles about giving Ella to her daughter. Though it's Grace who plays with Ella, Mom admits that seeing a beautiful bald doll touched her heart as well. "When the charge nurse brought us 'Ella' I cried," she wrote on her Change.org petition, which got 103,450 signatures.

Originally, Ella was intended to be a limited-edition product, but responses from families like the Bumsteads made Mattel decide to produce a greater number. "We've heard from hundreds of kids and their families that the doll has made a special impact on their lives, and that's why we're committing to producing more," Clark says. "We will produce her as long as there's a need and a want."

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