Kelly's Healing Touch, Massage Bodyworks and Esthetics Hosts Toy Drive

Area residents have an opportunity to support children and teens fighting cancer by donating coloring books, crayons and play dough during Jacob Abraham’s 9th Birthday Celebration.

October 17, 2022, would have marked the 9th birthday of Jacob Abraham, a little guy whose treatment for childhood cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma) did not go well. Jacob succumbed to the disease on August 19, 2016.

Jacob’s mother, Meghan Abraham, recalls that Jacob loved his visits to the Treasure Chest at Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital. “The Treasure Chest helped Jacob get through painful visits while undergoing cancer treatment,” said Meghan. “He would play for hours with play dough, coloring books and crayons. He enjoyed the smaller toys and never picked a large toy out of the Treasure Chest.”

In honor of Jacob’s ninth birthday, Kelly’s Healing Touch, Massage Bodyworks and Esthetics located at 19255 Everett Lane, Mokena will be collecting Jacob’s favorite from now until October 1, 2022, for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. Kelly Kawczynski has collected more than 390 gifts to benefit young kids just like Jacob who are currently fighting cancer.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 15,700 young cancer patients in 65 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 29th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of this year.

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.

Pictured: Owner Kelly Kawczynski at Kelly’s Healing Touch Salon in Mokena displaying the collection box full of coloring books, crayons and play dough. Kelly said, “Nobody should ever have to go through cancer treatments, especially children. It's an honor to be able to help put smiles on the faces of the future.”

Pictured (Below): One-year-old Jacob Abraham peers into the Treasure Chest at Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital, Oak Lawn, IL in 2014.