Remembering

Zach had mito but mito did not have him... something that I say often and think about more.

To help others as we remember Zachary, To help Zachary’s legacy continue, To Touch and Make their illnesses a tad easier for the anniversary of his passing we want his memory to live on we are collecting items to be donated at Scottish Rite (TICU/PICU) in honor of Zachary. Zachary died June 14, 2011 after a life long battle with mitochondrial disease. Mito is a disease that can affect every part of the body, every organ system, in Zach’s case. Mito affected his ability to stay well, to gain weight, to communicate and to do a lot of the things that we take for granted.

Because of not being able to stay well, Zach spent a lot of time at the hospital we often would receive things that would make Zach smile, when Zach smiled it reminded me that we were going to be okay. Zach’s favorite things were stickers, cupcakes and play doh. Often however, Zach would get fairies and flower stickers because it was all that they had left, they often have more children than they have items to pass out to them.  When Zach died we bought all of the new packages of stickers, the dvds that we never got to open and watch, the new coloring books and all of the new toys that he had been given to the hospital, this started Remembering Zachary. We strive for each year to have more than the days following his death. We want no family to think that they are walking the path alone.

This is a list of suggested items (please know that this is NOT exhaustive), please remember and keep in mind that the patients are birth to 22 years of age on average. They can be boys or girls. Please try not to donate items that have to do with death. Characters like Monster high, Spongebob, Disney characters, Pixar characters are all acceptable.  Please remembering that items that can be used to do multiple things are wonderful to

Items and ideas for patients and families:
-hotwheels, cars, trucks, other vehicles of any size
-barbies or other dolls
-markers all sizes and types
-crayons
-paper: copy paper, construction paper of all sizes
-notebooks
-new dress up clothes (boys and girls)
-new brightly colored pillowcases (homemade would be best)
-new brightly colored blankets (homemade would be best)
-books for all ages
-Stuffed Animals (NEW and must have tags on them)
-Infant toys and Crib Toys
-DVDs (rating pg and under)
-puzzles
-balls
-Crosswords
-cards
-word searches
-games for all ages
-stickers
-coloring books
-play dough sets and just dough
-pens, pencils and other writing instruments
-iTunes gift cards (to be used by Childlife and therapists)
-gift cards

Items for staff and Parent Bags:
-prepackaged chips and pretzels
-prepackaged crackers
-prepackaged granola bar
-individual packaged peanut butter
-bottles of water
-drink mixes
-juice boxes