Pyjama donations aim to make hospital stay cozier for kids with cancer
A Selkirk mother has launched a campaign to make life a little cozier for kids in hospital undergoing cancer treatment.
Candace Schellenberg is collecting donations of pyjamas for the Children's Hospital Foundation. She was inspired by her own experience after her daughter Brenna was diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2016.
Due to the chemotherapy, Brenna would throw up several times a day.
"And so you needed a lot of pyjamas, because of course at just over two years old she didn't have a lot of control as to where her vomit was going. So there were a lot of messes," Schellenberg said in an interview with CBC's Information Radio.
Last year, Schellenberg collected toy donations, but this year she wanted to try something different.
Schellenberg says her family was fortunate because they were able to send laundry home and bring clean clothes back to the hospital, but for families who live far outside of Winnipeg, that isn't possible. In those cases, she says, kids either wear their regular clothes, hospital garments or simply their underwear or diaper.
For kids staying in the hospital, receiving donations makes a big difference, Schellenberg said.
"It's hard, it's really, really hard, and all those little things that you received in the hospital made that day — the day you received it — super special. It changed the tone, it changed the atmosphere. It made them feel special, it made them feel important and, in the case of pyjamas, it would also make them feel cozy," she said.
The age range of the kids in the hospital ranges from infants to high school students, and Schellenberg says those older kids often get overlooked.
Brenna has progressed to the point where she can go home in time for the holidays, something Schellenberg says she is eagerly awaiting.
New or gently-used pyjamas can be dropped off at Schellenberg's business, Sacred Stone Massage Therapy at 146 Main St. in Selkirk, or delivered to the Children's Hospital Foundation.
