The employees at Versiti Blood Center of Illinois, formerly Heartland Blood Center in Tinley Park have a heart for children and teens fighting cancer. Versiti Blood Center asked their employees to bring toy donations to the facility during the holidays. When the collection was over, the drive accumulated almost 75 toys to donate to The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation.
The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,000 young cancer patients in 59 cancer treatment centers in 20 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Colleen Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. Ms. Kisel discovered that giving her son a toy after each procedure provided a calming distraction from his pain, noting that when children are diagnosed with cancer their world soon becomes filled with doctors, nurses, chemotherapy drugs, surgeries and seemingly endless painful procedures. Martin celebrated his 26th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2019.
Source: Versiti Blood Center of Illinois has a Heart for Kids with Cancer – Patch.com
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