"Comfort Bags" for Children's National

Last picture for today from the bag creation night!

Another picture from the bag creation night.

Thank you

Thank you for all of the donations. In total we raised $835 and collected over 1000 items.

We put together 135 bags on Thursday night and donated them to Children's National in DC on Friday, November 22, 2013.

Attached is a photo of the team after creating all 135 bags.

We really appreciate all of your support and hopefully we can continue this great cause in the future.

Thank you to Tricia for setting out a collection box at UMD Health Center because we recieved so many wonderful donations. The families at Children's National will greatly appreciate this.

In July 2011, at 5 months old, Trevor Vardy was diagnosed with an ependymom brain tumor. He underwent successful surgery to remove the tumor and completed 6 months of chemotherapy, all before his first birthday. His life saving treatment was conducted at Children's National in Washington D.C.

As the husband of Trevor's cousin, Justin witnessed Trevor's fight against cancer and the tough year his parents, Jillian and John, faced. This experience had a profound impact on Justin and he hoped to find a way to help families facing similar challenges. An assignment in his Leadership Development class offered a great opportunity. The assignment included organizing and influencing a group of people to accomplish a goal. Justin along with his 5 teammates, knew finding a way to help Children's National and families like Trevor’s was a way they could turn this school project into an event that would make a difference for families in need.

Justin reached out to Jillian to find out what they could have used or would have loved to have while spending much of Trevor’s first year at the hospital. Jillian explained that once the cancer is identified and course of treatment is started the hospital and their family and friends were extremely generous and took great care of them, but that moment when you bring your child into the hospital you are not prepared with the littlest of things. She shared the experience she encountered when Trevor was first admitted into the pediatric intensive-care unit (PICU).

"After spending a few days at the beach with family, Trevor started to vomit and initially doctors thought it was a stomach bug. The vomiting didn't stop and Trevor was checked into a local hospital for fluids. A CT scan performed the next day revealed a tennis-ball-sized tumor on his brain. Trevor was transferred by helicopter to Children's National and scheduled for emergency brain surgery. Without any warning or time to plan, Jillian and John were rushing to the hospital to be with Trevor. They didn't have time to stop at home and weren't sure of when they would be able to go home. Jill shared that simply having deodorant, shampoo, or a toothbrush and toothpaste would have made a world of difference."

This experience and our desire to make a difference has led us to organize donation drives to collect enough essential items for 100+ "Comfort Bags", which will be delivered to Children's National. These bags will be given to families of children admitted to the PICU and NICU (and any other unit that needs them). We hope these bags will assist and provide some comfort for families who are not prepared on many levels for their current situation.

Any help is greatly appreciated, whether it be purchasing one item or assisting us financially.

Jillian kept a blog during the entire course of treatment, please feel free to read at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/trevorvardy

To read more about Trevor's story, check out a Washington Post article about his story:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-11-26/local/35511911_1_cancer-cells-tumor-brain-surgery