Paul George gives $10K to girl with cerebral palsy

The plea flashed across Paul George's Twitter page early Sunday morning.

"@Yg_Trece your girl needs your help"

Indiana Pacers player George (YG_Trece on Twitter) read the message and quickly translated.

The tweet came from Howard Esterline. George knew that name and he knew exactly who Esterline was talking about.

Eleven-year-old Daisy Esterline, Howard's daughter, needed something.

The spunky Indianapolis girl with cerebral palsy who George had visited — and kind of fallen in love with — at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health in February could use a hand.

She needed money for a wheelchair-accesible van.

Daisy's pink wheelchair that George watched her zip about in the day he and Pacers teammates met her, was becoming too much for her family to maneuver.

It weighs 200 pounds, more with Daisy in it. The Esterlines' current vehicle has a lift that's broken. So, every time Daisy has to go to a doctor's appointment or therapy session, which is a lot, the family has to break down the wheelchair and load it up in the back.

The Esterlines set up a GoFundMe page to raise the money for a new van, a 2011 Chrysler Town & Country that Daisy really took to, but the price tag was $35,000.

So, family members started circulating the fundraising page, which had been up for more than a year with little activity, on Twitter to try to get some help. And help they received.

Just 12 hours after George saw that tweet, without a question and without any fanfare, he chipped in $10,000 Sunday evening.

"Keep fighting daisy I am with you!" George wrote in the comments section with his donation.

The Esterlines' goal was to raise $12,000 for the down payment and then finance the rest. As of Tuesday night, more than $20,000 had been raised. Half of that, of course, thanks to George.

"He just decided to give. They were just shocked," said Jeremy Lafara, Daisy's uncle and the brother of Daisy's mom, Suzanne. "Suzanne was calling me and texting me Sunday evening. They couldn't believe it."

LaFara could believe it. As a Pacers season ticket holder, LaFara attended a party for season ticket holders in March at Latitude 360. In LaFara's hand he had a Pacers game program that on the cover had a photo of Daisy and George from their meeting at Riley.

"I was hoping I could get him to sign it," LaFara said. When he approached George with the request, the Pacers player looked at the program and smiled.

"Oh yeah. I remember her," George said to LaFara. "She's a beautiful girl."

The family plans to purchase the van by the end of the week, LaFara said.

"The whole thing has been awesome," he said.

Follow Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.