Eagle Scout Project in Honor of Erin

This past year two young men, who live in our area, devoted much time and effort in doing their Eagle Scout Projects in honor of Erin.

Eagle Project #1

Ben Jewkes planned and organized a toy drive for Primary Children's Medical Center (where Erin was treated for Acute Myeloid Leukemia).  He took flyers door to door with requests for new toys in honor of Erin.  Here he is with some of the donations people left in bags on their doorsteps.

 

He sorted and boxed up all the toys.

He received over 300 toy donations and took them to Primary Children's.

Although Erin was through with treatment at this time, I wanted to post a picture of her playing with some toys that were donated to Primary Children's that she was given while in treatment.  There were some really difficult days that Erin endured, some days she would sob into her blankets and be in so much pain and feel so sick.  These days it was especially wonderful to get a new toy donation brought into her room.  At Christmastime, it seems there were so many toy donations, we got one almost every day.  

These cancer kiddos (and other sick kids at Primary Children's) really benefit from these donations.  When Erin goes to the lab to get poked for her blood draw or whenever she would get an ECHO or EKG or any other procedure done at Primary Children's she is given a toy as a reward for being brave.

She especially loves getting mini beanie babies like this lucky dog.

One of Erin's much played with toy donation surprises was a princess skirt and wand.

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Eagle Project #2

Trevor Jewkes focused his Eagle Scout Project on making dolls and blankets for Primary Children's Medical Center

With the help of friends, family, and fellow scout Trevor make 28 quilts ranging from baby to twin size.

They also made 10 fabric dolls complete with 38 hospital gowns.

He turned the blankets and dolls in to Primary Children's.

Erin received many blankets during each of her rounds of chemo. She got this pink flower fleece blanket just days after she was diagnosed with AML.  It still sits on her bed and she regularly snuggles in this blanket.

One fun blanket she got during a hard time with chemo was this "blow pop" blanket.

Here is Erin playing with a cloth doll, like the one's Trevor made.  The Child Life Specialist in the cancer ward gave Erin this doll (that someone made & donated) for her to "practice" the dressing changes on.  We used to do weekly dressing changes on Erin's Broviac (tube-ees as she called them) in her chest and it was often very traumatic for Erin.  It really helped her to play with the dressing change kits on her cloth dolls.  We even cut one of the dolls open a sliver and inserted a Broviac tube-ee into the doll so she could clean the tubes, just like we would clean her tubes.  It was very therapeutic for Erin to practice these procedures on her doll and it helped her cope with the pain she had to go through.

We are so grateful for all the people who have donated toys and their time in making blankets and dolls in honor of Erin.  Having your child diagnosed with cancer is very heart-breaking and the kindness of a whole community pulling together to lighten those burdens is so beautiful.  We want to thank Trevor and Ben Jewkes for their commitment to Scouting and for their thoughtfulness in honoring Erin through their projects.  We also want to thank all of those who have donated in one way or another in honor of Erin.

Thank you!