The fight against cancer is certainly never easy or something anyone signs up for, that’s why a local group donated a special item to help pediatric patients in need.
Kendra Lewis from Aaronsburg has a four year-old daughter, Olivia. Olivia’s had to deal with more than any four year-old should.
“Olivia’s been receiving treatment for over a year, Lewis, said. “A lot of times when she can’t play, or be around family members or go outside.”
Doctors found a cancerous tumor on Olivia’s kidney, which spread to one of her lungs. She started chemotherapy in July 2018 , relapsed in January and just finshed her last chemo treatment in August.
In June, Olivia was the first pediatric oncology patient at Mount Nittany to use the “Brady Buggy”.
“The first day that they brought it in, actually, she sat in it the whole time she was getting treatment,” Lewis, said. “It gives her something to look forward to.”
The wagon can be used to store IV fluid, or be a place for Mom to put another child while their sibling is getting treatment.
But above all, Olivia’s nurse Kayla Neff says it takes away a child’a anxiety.
“Whenever I go out there with that wagon, it makes them smile, so they get excited to see me, they’re not stressed out, they’re not thinking about the needles,” Kayla Neff, Registered Nurse for the Cancer Care Partnership.
So, who bought this $1,300 wagon for the hospital?
“If we can help a child get through a crisis like this, something positive for them, we’ll certainly do it, Jack Smith, Chairman for the Centre Foresight Committee, said.
Jack Smith and Charles Poust from Centre County Lions Clubs say when they heard about another lions club buying a “Brady Buggy” to help child cancer patients, they wanted to do the same here.
The Hugs for Brady Foundation, the non-profit that sells the wagon, uses the proceeds for cancer research and help for patients.
Kendra Lewis says the fact that people want to help her family is sometimes overwhelming.
When given a choice for the animal on the wagon, you know what the Lions Club members in Nittany Lion Country chose.
“The receptionist here in the oncology center asked me if it was gonna’ be a fish,” Jack Smith, Chairman for Centre Foresight Committee, said. “I said we’re lions, it’s not gonna’ be a fish.”
“That strangers that we don’t know would people that we don’t know reaching out a hand and helping us in this really tough time, it means a lot to us,” Lewis, said.
Olivia will have a CT scan on Thursday, to see if the cancer is gone from her lung.
To find out more about Brady Buggies, you can go to:
