LI Woman With Cancer Spreading Love Through Blankets

SMITHTOWN, NY - Being diagnosed with breast cancer hasn't stopped one Smithtown resident from helping others -- in fact it has inspired her.

When Mia Kaiser was diagnosed with cancer last September, she had to start chemotherapy treatments right away. So before one of her sessions at the Dubin Breast Center at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC last October, she decided to make a blanket for herself to bring while undergoing treatment.

"I just thought it would be really comfy to bring to chemo with me," she said.

She chose the patterns: breast cancer ribbons on one side and monkeys for the other side since her husband likes monkeys, and made a simple, "DIY" fleece blanket.

After that, she got the idea to make more of those blankets to give them out to the other women receiving treatment.

Kaiser figured that every time she goes for treatment - 16 in total - she could bring about 10 or so blankets for the other patients.

She then decided to start a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help raise some money for the materials to make the blankets, with a goal of just $5,000.

However, that goal was quickly exceeded after just a few days.

"People just started donated and it went from $5,000 to over $12,000 pretty quick," she said.

As of Friday, the page has raised a total of $12,655.

"It's not a happy place to be when you're going for chemo so a lot of the women are not looking forward to going so I just try to talk to the other women there and try to get a smile out of them or just try to make them feel better," she said. "So when I hand them the blankets I just get nothing but love and warmth and smiles and appreciation and tears."

Last month, Kaiser had given out about 70 blankets and had about 30 more ready to give out. Some of her family and friends, including her mother-in-law Dolores Kaiser, mother Gale Chang and husband Eric Kaiser, have been helping her make the blankets.

Now with all the money raised, she is able to make many more blankets and is hoping to eventually give them to patients in other hospitals.

"We ended up raising so much more money then we had intended so we went from making about 200 to we could potentially just keep going," she said.

Once she finishes with treatment in the city, she plans to take the extra blankets to give them out to hospitals around Long Island.

However, Kaiser didn't plan to have this many blankets to give out.

"It was kind of shocking to receive that many donations," she said. "It kind of just kept going."

Since there was so many extra donations, Kaiser also decided to use that to give back to the nurses at the center and other people there for the holidays. She brought some little gifts to give out.

"I'm so appreciative of the love and the support behind the project and behind me," she said. "I'm so happy and grateful to those who have donated because they are helping me help others."

It is also helping Kaiser keep a positive outlook by helping others.

"Just because you have an illness it doesn't define who you are," she said.

To learn more or to donate, visit the GoFundMe page here.

Photos courtesy of Mia Kaiser