Genre's Kids with Cancer Fund
Helping families living through childhood cancer - emotionally, financially and spiritually.
Go Bags
The day after Genre was diagnosed with leukemia, a dear friend of mine, who also happens to be Genre’s best friend’s mom, gave me what she called a ‘to go bag’. In that bag was everything that I would need during a hospitalization. She said that I should leave the bag packed and when Genre wasn’t feeling well and we needed to get to the hospital I could just grab that bag and go. Little did I know on that day that we would use that bag more than 50 times in eight months. Sadly, Tracy knew another family who had lived through pediatric leukemia and that mom was able to tell Tracy everything I would need. The bag had everything I needed from shampoo/conditioner and toothpaste to gum and notepad/pens.
At the moment when you first hear the words, “Your child has cancer. “, you can’t think. There is no way you can possibly think of yourself and what you will need over the next several weeks. You do not know that you will be sick in your stomach for the next week…You can not know that you will have a continual headache for days…You don’t realize that you won’t sleep for many nights and you will need something to keep busy in the middle of the night so that you don’t lose your mind. You just can’t comprehend the severity of the pain and fear you are about to experience and then continue to live through. (scroll down, please)
The bag my friend brought me helped me not only through those first two weeks, but every stay thereafter. Each time my son was ill and needed to go to the hospital, I was scared to death….but never once did I need to think about what I needed to take for myself. That burden was taken away for me by the” to go” bag my friend had prepared. I hope Genre’s Kids with Cancer Fund can do that for every mom who deals with this nightmare. We give one of these ‘to go’ bags to every newly diagnosed family at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Below is a list of the items we use and the approximate sizes. Please email if you have any questions or if you’d like to be involved in any way. genreskidswithcancerfund@comcast.net A Genre's Kids with Cancer Fund volunteer will be happy to make arrangements to pick up the supplies. Thank you in advance for your help!
Each bag will have the following items:
Shampoo and conditioner – approximately 8 – 12 oz size
Hair brush
Pony tail holders
Lotion – approximately 8 oz size
Disposable razors
Body wash – approx. 8- 12 oz size.
Deodorant for Dad
Deodorant for Mom
Toothpaste (brand name please ) – approx. 4 oz. size
Three toothbrushes per bag
Dental floss
Finger nail file
Nail clippers
tweezers
Small Tums
Small Tylenol
Lip balm
Small feminine products both tampons and pads
Steno sized notebooks
Post it notes
Pens
Highlighters
Gum and/or mints
Deck of cards
One gallon size baggies – to put the shampoo/conditioner in - incase the liquids would leak
One quart size baggies
Snack size baggies – for the smaller items
Misc. coupons as they are donated
We need 120 of each item per year. (Toothbrushes = 360). Would you consider committing to supply one item for one year? Would you ask your workplace, organization, or church group to provide some of these items? Whatever you can supply, in any amount, is very much appreciated and needed.
The wonderful 9B nurses have agreed to distribute the bags since they really are the first point of contact for a newly diagnosed patient and family. The hospital tells us that there are normally 8-12 new diagnoses each month. We are planning on providing 10-15 bags per month. Thanks for all the emails and questions about the bags. As always, we are inspired and amazed by your eagerness to help these families.
At the moment when you first hear the words, “Your child has cancer. “, you can’t think. There is no way you can possibly think of yourself and what you will need over the next several weeks. You do not know that you will be sick in your stomach for the next week…You can not know that you will have a continual headache for days…You don’t realize that you won’t sleep for many nights and you will need something to keep busy in the middle of the night so that you don’t lose your mind. You just can’t comprehend the severity of the pain and fear you are about to experience and then continue to live through. (scroll down, please)
The bag my friend brought me helped me not only through those first two weeks, but every stay thereafter. Each time my son was ill and needed to go to the hospital, I was scared to death….but never once did I need to think about what I needed to take for myself. That burden was taken away for me by the” to go” bag my friend had prepared. I hope Genre’s Kids with Cancer Fund can do that for every mom who deals with this nightmare. We give one of these ‘to go’ bags to every newly diagnosed family at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Below is a list of the items we use and the approximate sizes. Please email if you have any questions or if you’d like to be involved in any way. genreskidswithcancerfund@comcast.net A Genre's Kids with Cancer Fund volunteer will be happy to make arrangements to pick up the supplies. Thank you in advance for your help!
Each bag will have the following items:
Shampoo and conditioner – approximately 8 – 12 oz size
Hair brush
Pony tail holders
Lotion – approximately 8 oz size
Disposable razors
Body wash – approx. 8- 12 oz size.
Deodorant for Dad
Deodorant for Mom
Toothpaste (brand name please ) – approx. 4 oz. size
Three toothbrushes per bag
Dental floss
Finger nail file
Nail clippers
tweezers
Small Tums
Small Tylenol
Lip balm
Small feminine products both tampons and pads
Steno sized notebooks
Post it notes
Pens
Highlighters
Gum and/or mints
Deck of cards
One gallon size baggies – to put the shampoo/conditioner in - incase the liquids would leak
One quart size baggies
Snack size baggies – for the smaller items
Misc. coupons as they are donated
We need 120 of each item per year. (Toothbrushes = 360). Would you consider committing to supply one item for one year? Would you ask your workplace, organization, or church group to provide some of these items? Whatever you can supply, in any amount, is very much appreciated and needed.
The wonderful 9B nurses have agreed to distribute the bags since they really are the first point of contact for a newly diagnosed patient and family. The hospital tells us that there are normally 8-12 new diagnoses each month. We are planning on providing 10-15 bags per month. Thanks for all the emails and questions about the bags. As always, we are inspired and amazed by your eagerness to help these families.
