Homemade cases bring smiles to faces

Photo:

A CASE FOR SMILES — ConKerr Regional Coordinator Karen Flagg from Greene, left, and Child Life Specialist Ashley Holmes from the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital in Portland hold up packages of handmade pillowcases to give to children to help them feel special while battling life-changing illnesses.

STATE — Colorful homemade pillowcases may not be a cure, but they are still giving hospital patients a reason to smile. 

That's the goal of ConKerr Cancer, an organization that makes pillowcases for chronically ill children, here in Maine and all over America.

ConKerr Cancer began in 2002 when Cindy Kerr made pillowcases for her son Ryan who was in the hospital for long periods of time battling cancer. The bright colors, she said, not only brightened up the hospital room, but also brought a smile to Ryan's face.

Ryan was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the age of 12. Over six years, he fought through five recurrences of his cancer, 30 months of chemotherapy, 15 surgeries (including the amputation of his right leg), over 150 days of physical therapy and two broken bones in his healthy foot.

Unfortunately, at 18, he passed away.

Ryan liked the the pillowcases so much that Kerr and her friends began making them for other ill children on the Oncology Unit at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and, eventually, the organization grew.

Thousands of volunteers from all over America and even in Canada and South Africa have teamed up to make 500,000-plus pillowcases since the pillowcase project –  A Case for Smiles – began, says ConKerr Regional Coordinator Karen Flagg from Greene.

The mission of A Case for Smiles is to help children feel special while battling life-changing illnesses, says Flagg, who's been coordinating the project for a month.

"What I am trying to do is have a contact person with every hospital in the state of Maine that have pediatric beds," she says. "My goal is to [reach out] to every hospital in Maine."

"But kids do not have to have cancer to get a pillowcase," says Flagg.

"We want to have the pillowcases there for them to be able to take their pick, and to put them at ease a little bit, instead of the sterile, white beds."

So far, ConKerr has established 125 chapters serving children in 225 hospitals and pediatric hospices.

School groups, sewing circles, church groups and fabric stores have all pitched in to sew and donate pillowcases. "We are always trying to get donations of fabric and money to continue to buy the fabric," says Flagg. 

And, "everything that's made [or donated] in Maine, stays in Maine," she says.

Flagg said that she visited the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital just last week and delivered four-dozen pillowcases.

The organization has had such great feedback that it's even been recognized by Martha Stewart, which Flagg says has really helped to spread the word.

Help make hospital stays as pleasant as possible by volunteering. Making a pillowcase is easy, rewarding and can have a positive impact on a child in need.

Donations can be made through the website: www.conkerrcancer.org. Instructions for making a standard-size pillowcase, should you choose to volunteer, are also on the website.