Treasure Chest Foundation Adds 49th Treasure Chest with New Oklahoma City Program

The Orland Park, Illinois based Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation (POTCF) reached a major milestone in January with the opening of its 49th Treasure Chest Program at the Jimmy Everest Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Children in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Program will provide toys and gift cards to pediatric cancer patients during their treatments. Each new Treasure Chest Program brings the promise of relief and comfort for hundreds of childhood cancer patients.

This Treasure Chest Program is sponsored by the Riley Exploration Group of Oklahoma City, an independent energy company formed in 2012 which is engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas in Oklahoma and Texas. “It is an honor to support this program that directly impacts pediatric cancer patients as they are dealing with this devastating disease,” said Riley Exploration Group CEO Bobby Riley. “We all have personal stories of loved ones or friends who have fought cancer and we want to do whatever we can to make this experience a better one, particularly for these brave children and teens.”

“We have come a long way and we are so excited to open our 49th Treasure Chest Program,” said Treasure Chest Foundation CEO and Founder Colleen Kisel. “None of this would be possible without the support of Riley Exploration Group of Oklahoma City. They are silent heroes for thousands of children and teens fighting cancer.”

“The children at the Jimmy Everest Center often undergo painful procedures during their chemotherapy treatments,” said Shirley Harris, R.N., who serves as a Nurse Manager at the facility. “A visit to the Treasure Chest can help them briefly forget these procedures. Simple offerings of toys are special to these children as a statement that everything is complete and it’s time to return to their world of being a child, not the clinic world, in which they have no choices.”

The Jimmy Everest Center was established in honor of James “Jimmy” Christopher Everest who died in 1992 at the age of 17 after a brave bout with bone cancer. The center offers state-of-the-art medical diagnosis and treatment featuring Oklahoma’s only pediatric stem cell transplantation staff.

The not-for-profit Treasure Chest Foundation now supports more than 9,300 children and teens each month who are diagnosed with cancer by providing a toy or gift card in 49 hospitals nationwide. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. CEO Colleen Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. Colleen discovered that giving her son a toy after each procedure provided a calming distraction from his pain. Martin is on course to celebrate his 22nd anniversary of remission from the disease later this year.

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