Since 2018, Kim Lyon and her friends, fellow Riley families, and various community members have collected donations to provide special Halloween treat bags to patients and their families. For Kim, this is a way to give back to children and their guardians who are walking a similar road she walked with her daughter, Piper, from 2017 to 2018.
"She was diagnosed with advanced stage 3 Burkitt lymphoma in September of 2017," Lyon said. "She is doing great now! She is cancer free, doing awesome! She plays school volleyball, she plays travel basketball, and travel softball, so she's really active."
Kim and her friend, Samantha Piety, teamed up with the Heroes Foundation, specifically Team JOEY, to spread a few hours of Halloween joy to patients and their families in the Simon Family Tower. Each child received a bag full of treats to enjoy.
"We think about okay, there's usually a window in the room, so we like to put little decorative things so you can decorate your window," Piety explained. "Coloring books to keep them busy; we like to do fun little socks."
Piety's daughter, Stella, was a patient at Riley when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. For these moms, this annual Halloween event is a chance to come alongside other families and show their support.
"Being in the hospital, especially if you're inpatient, you're away from all of the normal things that you have at home so we just thought that bringing some joy to the kids and activities, especially if your child is inpatient, you're trying to find something for them to do all day long," Lyon said. "All of the things that we have put together are meant for if they are unable to get out of bed, or they have to be contained to their room, or even if they are here on outpatient, just easy things that they can take home that don't make a big mess. It just kind of takes the pressure off of having to figure out something to do over an entire day or a couple of days."
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