Joliet West High School Health and Medicine Academy Donates

Students of the Health and Medicine Academy at Joliet West High School are giving to children fighting cancer by hosting a collection drive to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. After the drive ended a trunk full of educational toys were collected to directly benefit children fighting cancer.

The Academy of Health & Medicine at Joliet West High School is a learning community where students receive a rigorous and relevant curriculum that prepares them for success in the pathways of Allied Health and Medicine.

Bridget Williams, Science Teacher at Joliet West High School Health and Medicine Academy said, “The Treasure Chest Foundation is family. We wanted to help the kids the foundation serves and do something good for the community.”

“We are so blessed to have the support of the Joliet West High School Health and Medicine Academy. The students’ compassion and generosity will help put smiles on the faces of children who are struggling with the adversity of battling childhood cancer,” said Colleen Kisel, Founder and CEO of the Treasure Chest Foundation.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 14,800 young cancer patients in 63 cancer treatment centers in 21 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 28th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of 2021.

If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 1-708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s website at www.treasurechest.org.