PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — One camel, two luxury cars, three dates, a total of six custom made outfits, along with food and fun for everyone who attended made Johnny Eden Jr.’s Dubai themed pre-prom block party one fit for a king, and with a 25,000 price tag, you might say it was fit for a sultan. 
 
 “At first I was like, it was too much, I don’t really like a lot of attention but it’s worth it,” Johnny Eden Jr. said. “It was epic, man. I had my family out here. That’s all I really cared about is my family being out here. My mom did her thing, she was the real MVP.” 
 
 Saudia Shuler, Johnny’s mom, says her son is graduating from Simon Gratz Mastery Charter with a 3.8 Grade point average, and is a standout out on the basketball team and she wanted to do something special to reward him. 
 
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 “I was just trying to pay honor my son, because he is such a good kid,” she said. 
 
 “He did everything I required of him, throughout his whole entire life from first grade all the way up to 12th grade straight A’s but always get a B in something dumb like gym,” she said. 
 
 Shuler says over the last few years, she fought and beat cancer, and suffered from a stroke. 
 
 “I was on my death bed a few years ago, she said. “My son took it real hard. He believed in Allah so bad. He is Muslim, I am not. So that is what kept him strong.” 
 
 So being able to send her son to prom is something she never thought she would see. 
 
 “I’m still going through health problems. I said, if I ever live to make it I’m going to put on a big prom and a big graduation for my son and I just prayed and I hoped I got to see my son go to graduation and go on prom, because I didn’t believe I was going to make it,” she said. 
 
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 Shuler says she wanted to use the party to honor Johnny’s religion, and it is a move that’s getting mixed reviews. 
 
 “People think I was making a mockery of his religion. No, I was honoring the religion and honoring my son because that is what kept him strong for me,” she said. 
 
 She says bringing Dubai to North Philadelphia was not an easy feat, and was a process that was years in the making 
 
 “I saved for my son’s prom, and yes I splurged on my son,” she said. 
 
 Shuler says she originally was going to take Johnny to Dubai but she says by bringing Dubai to North Philadelphia would be able to make sure the whole neighborhood could enjoy the experience. ||||| - Prom send-offs have become more common in recent years, but one North Philadelphia mom is getting a lot of attention on social media for the send-off she gave her son. 
 
 She helped bring Dubai to the City of Brotherly Love! 
 
 Saudia Shuler says she was originally planning to give her son Johnny a trip to Dubai for his high school graduation, but after several tragedies including a stroke, a thyroid cancer diagnosis and the murder of Johnny's father, she was unable to do so. 
 
 So she decided to bring the Middle East to North Philadelphia, including three tons of sand, and even a camel. 
 
 Johnny also took three different dates to the prom in style, renting a Lamborghini, a Range Rover and Rolls Royce. 
 
 Shuler says her son deserves all of the glamor. In all, Saudia says the whole thing cost about $25,000. 
 
 Saudia and Johnny appeared on Good Day Philadelphia Monday morning to discuss how they pulled it all off!
– A Philly high school senior is describing his prom as "epic," which is probably still an understatement considering what his mom forked out for it. WTXF reports that Saudia Shuler had originally wanted to send son Johnny Eden Jr. to Dubai as a graduation gift, but serious health problems on her end (including a cancer diagnosis and a stroke) put those plans on hold—so instead she spent $25,000 to lend a Dubai feel to his big prom night. That over-the-top UAE ambience included Johnny's three dates, who accompanied him to the prom in a succession of luxury vehicles (a Lamborghini, a Range Rover, and a Rolls, to be exact), multiple stylist-assisted outfits, and a pre-prom block party complete with 3 tons of sand and … a camel, rented from an Ohio farm, per Billy Penn. "I was just trying to pay honor [to] my son, because he is such a good kid," Shuler tells CBS Philadelphia, adding that her son, whose dad was murdered when he was young, boasts high grades and plays basketball. She also wanted to give a nod to his Muslim faith (she isn't Muslim herself), which helped him when she was extremely ill. "My son took it real hard," she says. "[His faith] is what kept him strong." She's still combating various health issues, but she says that during the worst of it she had vowed to go all out for her son's prom and graduation if she lived to see it—and she has no regrets, despite critics saying she overindulged. Johnny, who says he doesn't like being the center of attention, at first thought the whole thing was a bit much, but he now thanks his mom for a night he'll never forget. "It was epic, man," he tells CBS. "My mom was the real MVP." (One school handed out condoms at prom.)