Three kids give back in gratitude of Child Life Services
Meet Bradley, Elijah and Makoa, three boys who — thanks to their experiences with donor-supported Child Life Services — are on a mission to make MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital a place where therapeutic play rules and stress and anxiety take a back seat.
A hospital can be a scary environment for a child. Child life specialists help by explaining diagnoses and procedures in kid-friendly terms. As young patients know what to expect, fear lessens.
The Child Life team also learns kids’ likes and interests. Distractions and coping strategies tap into these areas, assisting Bradley, Elijiah, Makoa and other children navigate tough medical interventions and difficult overnight stays.
A toy drive is born
When asked what he remembers about being at Mary Bridge Children’s during treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 10-year-old Bradley answers — like many growing boys — “Definitely the food!”
While the cafeteria held much allure for a 6-year-old Bradley, he also fondly reflects on his visits with facility dog Olaf the III; activities and special visitors — like the FBI — facilitated by Child Life; and time spent with Senior Child Life Specialist Kristen Bishop, MS, CCLS.
Thanks to Bishop and the rest of his care team, Bradley says Mary Bridge Children’s was like a second home.
Bradley and Senior Child Life Specialist Kristen Bishop, MS, CCLS, with bins full of holiday cheer during Bradley’s most recent Mary Bridge Children’s toy drive.
“They really held our hands — all of our hands — [and helped us] not feel so lost,” adds Bradley’s mom Darla.
Following his cancer journey, Bradley decided to collect toys for Mary Bridge Children’s patients who have to be hospitalized over the holidays. Since 2019, he’s created posters and enlisted his parents’ help spreading the word on social media to family, friends, co-workers and their community.
“Luckily, we weren’t there for the holidays, but some other kids were there, so it’s just messed up how sometimes kids don’t get to go home for the holidays,” Bradley explains. “So, by giving them extra gifts, they feel extra special. It feels good [knowing] you’ve done something to help other people.”
In 2023 alone, Team Bradley brought in more than 500 individual gifts, brightening the season for patients and their families.
Honoring a Mary Bridge Children’s anniversary
Mom Rebecca knows what it’s like to have a child spend December in a hospital room.
On the heels of Thanksgiving 2021, her son Elijah couldn’t eat anything. Arriving at Mary Bridge Children’s soon after, he was diagnosed with appendicitis and went into surgery. But Elijah’s appendix had already ruptured.
He recovered for weeks, improving around day 18. In that uncertain time, Elijah sought comfort in his providers and Child Life friends.
“I remember that the nurses, especially Bari, [explained] how the procedures were going to go and what they were going to do,” says Elijah, now 11. “Bari was always there for me whenever I needed her, and she always came up with good ideas to keep me occupied.”
Every Thanksgiving, Elijah drops off a carload of donated toys to the children’s hospital that cared for him.
At day 20, Elijah was discharged and determined to bring a smile to other Mary Bridge Children’s patients, just as Child Life Specialist Bari Bates had done for him.
Over the next year, he invited family and friends to donate toys for kids staying at Mary Bridge Children’s. Come Thanksgiving, Elijah was ready with boxes of items.
“When I dropped off the toys, it made me feel good that I could help kids, like how people [helped] me in the hospital,” he shares.
In 2023, Elijah doubled his contribution, and he and his family plan to continue the tradition again this November.
Five years of generosity and counting
Like Elijah and Bradley, Child Life inspired 15-year-old Makoa to support Mary Bridge Children’s.
The week of his eighth birthday, Makoa’s family discovered that his severe lack of energy, breathlessness and frequent throwing up were a result of having non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
His subsequent cancer regimen was challenging. Nonetheless, Makoa tried to get through and finish strong, championed by Mary Bridge Children’s oncology department and Child Life.
“[Kristen] brought in this little, like, fidget-spinning Minion,” he says. “You press a button, and the thing will start spinning and play music and all that. It just really helped me, like, not think about all the stuff that was really going on.”
Makoa throughout his five years of giving.
Makoa’s mom Angela also valued the role Child Life played.
“Any of the visits that they came to check on him, it was always such a positive, fun visit,” she says. “They always had some kind of new, fun thing for him to play with.”
Almost exactly a year later, Makoa rang the bell signifying the end of his treatment and looked ahead to turning 9. When thinking about a party and presents, he considered how much it would mean to gift a toy or activity to someone else in his shoes.
Makoa rallied his friends and family to give to the kids at Mary Bridge Children’s for his birthday, and had so much fun that he now holds a collection drive every February.
Child Life Services supported more than 10,000 patients and families last year, and 100 percent of the program’s supplies and items are made possible by physical and monetary donations.
