Thanks To Gabby, Kids With Cancer Have Bags Of Fun
from The Children's Hospital (TCH) News, July 2006
Keli Kinsella, a volunteer with the Gabby Krause
Foundation, laughs with Ashleigh Gambrell as the
CancerCenter patient plays with the “Flarp” that
came in her Bag of Fun. Gabby’s Foundation has
delivered more than 300 bags to Children’s
patients in the past year.
For the 19 months Gabby Krause was being treated for an aggressive brain tumor at The Children’s Hospital, she brought her “Bag of Fun” with her to every clinic visit. Everything she loved was packed inside: her favorite lip gloss, her Barbies, her Game Boy, even her homework. One day, while waiting for treatment, she asked her mom why other kids didn’t have bags.
“Gabby found the silly in everything,” said her mom, Tammy Krause. “She want-ed every kid to have as much fun as her.”
Just before Gabby passed away, Krause asked her what she’d like to do at the hospital, and Gabby said, “I’d want kids to have a bag.”
Thus began the Gabby Krause Foundation’s Bags of Fun. Every week since June 2005, Gabby’s Foundation has built and delivered bags for kids diagnosed with cancer at Children’s -more than 300 total. The foundation also has shipped bags to children in other states and prepared bags for kids being treated for cancer at other Colorado hospitals.
Tammie Weitzman, BSN, RN, is the oncology clinic nurse who helps identify the kiddos who need a bag.
“Right at the beginning, when things are rough, everyone who walks in to visit with a family seems to have sad news,” Weitzman said. “Then you walk in with this backpack, and they’re blown away that they don’t have to pick just one thing, that the whole bag is theirs forever.”
Samsonite donates the bags, and Pterodactyl Toys supplies more than a dozen fun items at cost. Every bag has Silly Putty and Flarp (gooey stuff that makes a funny sound when you play with it), an electronic gadget such as a portable DVD player, Leap Pad, Game Boy or MP3 player, and age-appropriate games and activities. Bags also usually contain something for parents, such as an electronic 20 Questions game and playing cards. Each bag costs at least $300 to put together.
“When Tammy delivers, she also brings extra stuff for siblings and parents,” Weitzman said. “Some of these families have nothing. For their kid to get a Game Boy or a DVD player or an MP3 player is huge for them.”
Krause said she remembers what it’s like to be a parent in the clinic.
“There is nothing worse than having a sick kid, and there is nothing better than knowing that someone cares, that someone understands what it’s like to sit for eight hours in a hospital with your sick, miserable kid,” she said. “We were blessed that we have so much family and so many friends here. We never felt like we were alone in Gabby’s fight. We want other families to know they’re not alone either.”
On June 3, the Gabby Krause Foundation held “Bring Out the Bags,” an event that looked more like a kids’ carnival than a typical fundraiser. Held in donated space at Park Meadows and catered with food donated from local restaurants, the event helped raise more than $125,000 for the project. The foundation also holds “Clays for Kids,” a skeet-shooting event, every September to help pay for the Bags of Fun. What’s more, people can sponsor a bag by making a $300 donation to the Gabby Krause Foundation. In the first year alone, 90 bags were sponsored. So far this year, 100 bags have been sponsored.
On a recent visit to the clinic, Krause looked around and noticed that every child had a bag.
“It was one of those mixed things for me as a mom,” Krause said. “The bags aren’t about Gabby, but they’re because of Gabby. They’re to help with Dominic’s fight, or Katy’s fight.”
Today, Krause is deciding whether the organization will grow wide or deep. She is considering expanding it to reach other children who spend a lot of time at Children’s or expanding the reach beyond Colorado .
“Our dream is for the Bags of Fun to continue to make a difference in the lives of these kids and families,” she said. “Gabby’s little legacy of smiles and being goofy will live on.”
