For 9-year-old Apoorva, walking was extremely painful – a fast-growing tumor was pressing against her spinal column, requiring inpatient treatment at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. When Chelsea’s Closet arrived at Doernbecher for our monthly dress-up and play program, Apoorva had been in a wheelchair for more than five days.
Chelsea’s Closet volunteers helped Apoorva select a sparkling new princess costume and accessories, and prepared her for the hallway parade. When the music started, Apoorva’s father pushed her chair in formation with the other pediatric patients. As always, the line of children danced, sang and waved as they made their way through the ward.
Halfway around the ward, Apoorva stopped her dad. Slowly, she rose from her chair, and carefully put one foot in front of the other. She walked the remaining 50 feet on her own, as her father whispered, “This is what therapy should look like.”
Chelsea’s Closet is more than a dress-up and craft party; when we help seriously ill children remember what it’s like to play and pretend, we can inspire hope and healing in ways that medicine cannot.
Your tax-deductible gift can help the Chelsea Hicks Foundation deliver hope and healing to Northwest children’s hospitals.
- A $10 donation provides a goodie bag of activities and nail polish
- A $25 donation purchases a new costume for a child to keep
- A $50 donation supports monthly fuel costs to get Chelsea’s Closet to local children’s hospitals
- A $100 donation helps support the monthly lease of our storage warehouse
For more information on gifting, including our recurring donation program, please visit our newly updated website at www.chelseahicksfoundation.org.
Please save the date for our largest fundraiser of the year: our 4th Annual Masquerade Ball, October 12 at the Governor Hotel in Portland, OR
ABOUT CHF
The Chelsea Hicks Foundation and CHELSEA’S CLOSET were founded in 2009 in honor of our “little monkey.” CHELSEA’S CLOSET is a rolling cart that makes monthly visits to Pacific Northwest area children’s hospitals with costumes and accessories for children fighting childhood cancer or other serious illnesses.
