7 On Your Side helps East Bay family fulfill girl's Christmas wish

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) -- The holiday season is over but for many children, but the joy of new toys will carry on into the new year.

The holidays are all about fulfilling wishes and for retailers it's all about fulfilling orders. A San Leandro girl wanted just one thing for Christmas, but the store did not come through. Her family said their holiday was about to be ruined.

Eight year old Kaitlin Byrne loves reading with her grandmother Luann Nealon, but for a little more excitement she zooms on her pink Power Wheels. That is, she used to.

"I drove it all the time and it broke on me," Kaitlin said.

Kaitlin had been driving her Power Wheels since she was three. When it broke down so did Kaitlin.

"I don't think we all realized how much it meant to her until she didn't have it any more, like she lost her best friend,"

said San Leandro resident Luann Nealon.

Kaitlin's uncle promised to buy her a new one, but she'd have to wait until Christmas.

"I love her very much and I'm her godfather so it was very important to get that for her," Michael Byrne said.

Family members quietly pitched in and ordered the truck she wanted from Walmart.com. The store notified Nealon the truck would arrive at the store by Dec. 12.

The family kept checking in, but the truck still hadn't arrived.

Five days before Christmas a manager told her the truck probably had been sold by mistake to another customer and he had no way to get her another one until January.

The familay had to tell Kaitlin she wouldn't get her Christmas wish. However, Nealon tried one last thing. She contacted 7 On Your Side. We contacted Walmart.com and managers sprang into action. On Christmas Eve, as the clock ticked down, Nealon got a call.

"Somebody named Bill Carmichael said, 'I'm going to help you with the truck.' I said, 'you're kidding me that's impossible,'"Nealon said.

Hours later a Walmart manager personally delivered a power wheels truck right to Nealon's home. It wasn't the exact truck Kaitlin wanted, but close. Still, Nealon was shocked when the manager called her again.

"He said,'You know what? I found the truck she really wants, and I went, 'Are you kidding me?'" Nealon said.

The manager returned that very day with the shiny truck Kaitlin longed for and left the other truck there as a free gift.

"Christmas miracles do happen, they do. I'm a total believer," Nealon said.

The contact at Walmart.com had one focus, find that truck.