Seasonal & Holidays
Orland Park Family Makes a Difference to Help Kids Fighting Cancer
Orland Park Family Makes a Difference to Help Kids Fighting Cancer
The spirit of the season has inspired two Orland Park sisters and brother to reach into their hearts and their pockets to help children and teens fighting cancer. Mallory Meyer (age 9) and Samantha Meyer (age 6) and Patrick (age 3) shopped to purchase toys for the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides a toy, gift or gift certificate as a means of comforting children and teens diagnosed with cancer.
The Meyer sisters and brother set sail to area stores where they purchased toys and gifts. When asked about supporting the Treasure Chest Foundation, mom Katie Meyer said, “We are lucky to be home this Christmas season. Not all kids will be home for the holidays, and some will be hospitalized.”
“It brought me joy to see kids helping kids. We are so pleased to have the support of the Meyer kids,” said an appreciative Colleen Kisel, Founder of the Treasure Chest Foundation. “Their generosity will help brighten the holidays for so many brave children facing the adversity of battling cancer.”
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The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 16,100 young cancer patients in 66 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.
