Costumes for a CURE

For about 6 months to a year, I've continued to tell family members that I feel a very strong pull that there is something I am to be doing to help others and could not pinpoint what it was.  Maybe this was the pull, I'll never know for sure, but my only goal is to help as many children as absolutely possible.

I recently saw a picture of a sweet little girl on the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Facebook page who wears a different princess gown to each chemotherapy treatments. The post shared that her costumes are uplifting to the patient herself and also her family and the staff members.

My hope is to extend this to as many other children as possible who are in need of similar life-saving treatments. I hope for a scenario where a child walks into their treatments with the opportunity to do so dressed as Superman, Cinderella, or any other host of magical childhood characters. I cannot imagine the difficulty of these times for both these children and their families and would love to provide any a smile or a small feeling of comfort any way possible.

So what does this all mean... 

Each time a child starts a cancer treatment, they will be given an envelope with a $30 gift card to purchase a costume, special outfit or any item of their choice with a letter explaining who we are and the reason behind this envelope. Every month I will deliver a batch of gift cards to the team at Children's Hospital who will coordinate getting these to the patients and their families. Every year about 100-140 new children start treatment in the oncology unit. The hope is to provide gift cards for every one of these children. The hospital has shared with me that they have many other patients throughout the hospital (beyond oncology) that would benefit from this so the longterm goal is to be able to expand this beyond oncology patients and to so many others in need, as well.

Thank you for 1) caring enough to read this far, 2) for any positive thoughts/vibes/prayers you can send towards the children going through such difficult times and our way to help bring these donations to life in a meaningful way, and 3) for any monetary donation of any size that you're able to share. I appreciate it all more than you know. 

The goal is to take the first batch of envelopes to Children's in October and I hope to share stories of children in the coming months that your donations have helped. Thank you again <3