Help Walmart and Pampers Support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (Giveaway, ends 7/11) #sponsored
This post is sponsored by P&G and I was provided with a Walmart gift card as a thank you for sharing this information. As always, all opinions stated here are 100% my own or those of my family.
This year has truly been a challenging one for my family – in ways we never anticipated. When my 12-year-old daughter began chemotherapy treatments in January, we knew that we would be spending a great deal of time at the hospital, which would add a lot of stress to our lives – logistical, financial, emotional… It’s been difficult but also rewarding, to see her quiet bravery each day, through each port access, infusion, blood count check, transfusion and more. She is a fun, quirky, amazing tween – who loves to read, play soccer and volleyball, write stories, spend time with her friends and above all else, just be a normal kid as much as possible.
We are very blessed to have a world-class children’s hospital right here in town, so only have to travel 15-20 minutes each way. We’ve met other families who travel much greater distances for every hospital admission and clinic visit, who can’t bring other kids up to the hospital to visit on a regular basis, have regular visits from friends and family or run home to grab something they forgot to bring. Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has innovative medical programs and an incredible, caring staff who we trust implicitly to take the very best care of our daughter. The Child Life staff have been especially amazing with Hannah, who tends to shut down and ignore everyone when she’s in the hospital – but the Child Life folks are so good at drawing her out, getting her out of bed and up and around, playing games, meeting other kids on the floor, participating in activities and reminding her that she’s not just a cancer patient right now – she’s still a kid.
During her last inpatient admission a couple of weeks ago, she was convinced to go downstairs to a hospital-wide luau party being held for kids and their families. Hannah and her sisters decorated cookies, played games, got temporary tattoos, snacked on smoothies and cake, and watched hula dancers perform. Hannah was inpatient during the first half of the week at Camp Catch-A-Rainbow, a local YMCA camp that offers a week for kids who have been treated for cancer – she originally wasn’t going to go late and finish out the week at camp, but the Child Life staff went out of their way to help convince her – and she had an absolute blast, made new friends and can’t wait to go back next year.
Our hospital is part of the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN), which works to raise funds and awareness for 170 children’s hospitals all over the US. As anyone with kids in their life knows – at any time, a child you love could become sick, or injured or need medical care of some sort. Or get cancer. In fact according to the Children’s Miracle Network, every day 2,218 kids are treated in CMN hospitals for cancer. That’s not just a statistic – many days, my kid is one of those two thousand. Tomorrow, yours could be. Every minute, 62 kids enter a CMN hospital, for any reason.
This month, Walmart and Pampers are donating $200,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network. If you would like to make a donation as well, you can visit Walmart.com/cmnh for more information. And if you purchase Pampers (or other P&G) products at Walmart, a portion of the proceeds will go to the CMN as well. My kids have all been out of diapers for years now, but Pampers were one of the brands we trusted when they were little, so I love seeing big company like Pampers and Walmart giving back in a way that helps kids everywhere, of all ages.
The infographic below was put together to show why it’s so important to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals – and there is some very helpful information there, some of which I referenced above. But the true reason why I support the Children’s Miracle Network, and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in particular, is heading back into the hospital tomorrow for her next round of inpatient chemo – Hannah, and every other kid like her being treated at HDVCH or other hospitals around the US.
GIVEAWAY TIME!
June 29, 2015 @ 8:38 pm
Closet is in Philadelphia. We haven’t had any experience personally but I’ve heard lots of great things.
June 29, 2015 @ 9:40 pm
I have not had any experience with them.
June 29, 2015 @ 10:13 pm
I don’t have any personal experience with CMN. The closest one is in Los Angeles.
June 29, 2015 @ 10:15 pm
I have not had any experiences with CMN Hospitals.
June 29, 2015 @ 11:35 pm
I had to take my daughter there this spring. She was really sick and they were amazing!
June 30, 2015 @ 12:30 am
The only CMN hospital in our state is the Shodair Childrens Hospital in Helena, MT. But, there is more than one in Spokane, WA which is actually closer. Our grandson was born with hip dysplasia and needed surgery at 4 months old. CMN at Seattle Childrens Hospital helped with that. I happy you have them to make things easier for your daughter!
June 30, 2015 @ 12:54 am
The closest one to me is the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital. I do not have any personal experiences but I have donated to the CMNH.
June 30, 2015 @ 7:39 am
The nearest hospital to me is Gilettes Children Hospital in st. Paul MN,
June 30, 2015 @ 4:14 pm
The closest hospital to me is UVA Children’s Hospital. I do not have a personal experience with them.
June 30, 2015 @ 4:23 pm
I have a newer CMN hospital within 10 minutes of my house in the north metro Denver area. I am fortunate enough that neither of my boys have ever been hospitalized, but I have been following your journey and it sounds like you are receiving excellent care and support. Best wishes to your family.
July 1, 2015 @ 4:38 pm
The closest one to me is in Richmond, VA. I don’t have a personal story with these hospitals, but I know they have helped so many kids!
Entered the Rafflecopter as “Wild Orchid”
Thanks for the chance to win!
wildorchid985 AT gmail DOT com
July 1, 2015 @ 11:52 pm
I have not had any experience with any of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals but I have made donations. Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare is close to me.
July 2, 2015 @ 4:41 pm
The one nearest to me is in Tennessee I believe. I have never known anyone who has used this hospital but I am so happy it exists for those children and families who need the treatment and help.
July 2, 2015 @ 9:48 pm
The closest one to me is in Boston, MA. I don’t have any experience with them.
July 3, 2015 @ 3:33 am
I have not had any experiences with them and the closet one is in Los Angeles.
July 3, 2015 @ 10:47 am
The closest one is Duke in Durham. I don’t have experience with CMN hospitals.
July 3, 2015 @ 3:45 pm
There’s a CMN hospital right down the street from my office. So thankful I’ve never had any personal experience with them. My coworkers baby was taken to a CMN hospital 3 hours away for a specialized heart surgery they don’t do here.
July 3, 2015 @ 10:22 pm
The closest to me is Albany, NY. I don’t have any experience with these hospitals.
July 3, 2015 @ 10:48 pm
Ccmc is closest. My daughter had to go there when she was born with a hole in her heart, she was treated awesome and the hole closed
July 4, 2015 @ 7:24 am
The closest one is Philadelphia and I don’t have any personal experience.
July 4, 2015 @ 11:34 am
MUSC is the closest CMN hospital to us. While we have used their outlying facilities, we’ve never had any inpatient experience there – thankfully! However, I’ve heard great things about their children’s hospital services.
July 4, 2015 @ 12:15 pm
The closest one to me is in Savannah, Georgia. I don’t have any experience with them.
July 4, 2015 @ 2:36 pm
There is one in Akron, OH – about an hour from me. I haven’t had any experience with them though
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July 4, 2015 @ 4:53 pm
The closest one to me is Lurie children’s hospital, formerly, children’s memorial. My best friends boys, triplets, were in there. The staff is amazing there.
July 4, 2015 @ 5:29 pm
The Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, PA is closest to me.
July 4, 2015 @ 11:48 pm
The closest is Gillette Children’s Hospital in St Paul MN.
That’s 60 miles from our home.
And my cousin’s life was saved at that hospital.
thank you
July 5, 2015 @ 2:33 am
OH such a touching story…Childrens Miracle Networks do such amazing things! My closest is the
Gillette Childrens Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. Not far from us at all. My little brothers family spent many months there after my niece was way early at 1 pound 9 ounces. They were so good to the whole family and really took care of them! She is 7 years old today!
July 5, 2015 @ 10:28 am
The closest on to me is Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis. The only experience I have is that my brother went there after a bad car accident in 1998.
July 5, 2015 @ 11:01 am
The Los Angeles hospital is closest to me. I do not have personal experience, but I know they do great work.
July 5, 2015 @ 11:21 am
I do not have any experience
July 5, 2015 @ 6:16 pm
The nearest is UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. We haven’t needed it personally, but glad it’s there!
July 5, 2015 @ 10:52 pm
Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles is my closest, which is almost 3 hours away in good traffic (a rarity here in Southern California). When a friend in Northern California needed to take her child to UC Davis, we were lucky to have lots of friends with relatives in the area to host them and help take care of babysitting and meals.
July 6, 2015 @ 11:49 am
The nearest one to me is 3 hours away, but we donate to them all the time. They do a lot of great things for a lot of family’s.
July 7, 2015 @ 12:45 am
The closest one to me is the Phx children’s hospital, I don’t have a personal experience.
July 8, 2015 @ 11:53 pm
My best friend growing up had Leukemia – Children’s Hospital took good care of him.
July 10, 2015 @ 3:43 pm
The closest is in RI. I don’t have any personal experience.
July 10, 2015 @ 5:46 pm
It’s about 15 minutes away and my daughter has been a CMN patient before and is still uses some of their services