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I want to share a little bit with you today of why I started The Best Friend Project so you have a better understanding of why it’s so important to me. 

 

After experiencing all that I went through medically as a pediatric patient, and the worry and fear of not knowing what would happen. I was blessed to be given my future back thanks to my doctors, medical science, and the support and prayers of my family. And Im not going to waste a moment of the future that lays ahead of me. 

 

But as my life moved forward I couldn't forget about some of the other pediatric patients I had seen who were coming in and out of appointments when I was there waiting for my own. Mostly I would watch them in the waiting room to distract myself from what I was worried about. I saw that sometimes they were scared, and other times they were lucky because they were too little to know what was coming, or why they should be worried. Some pediatric patients were so little, and others were elementary age, middle school age and high school age. And no matter their age I know their parents felt  fear just like mine have. Sometimes I would hear the younger ones cry in the next room from mine at appointments, or at the hospital during testing. I felt sad for them because I know what it’s like to be afraid. But at least I could understand more than they could because I was older than the youngest ones. It reminded me of times when I was little and scared and I would hold onto my stuffed dog Sophie ( named after my actual golden retriever dog). My stuffed Sophie Dog went pretty much everywhere with me when I was little, and slept with me every night. She made me feel better, and safer. I still have her in my memory box my mom keeps my most important keepsakes in. So when I would see the little kids scared and having to go through some of the things I knew I was going through it made me remember Sophie Dog and how much she helped me. And as someone who wants to go into science and medicine myself I spend time doing medical shadowing with different types of physicians . So when I shadowed I would sometimes see little kids, and older kids who were scared then as well. And it made me think how they too needed a Sophie Dog like I had when I was little. A stuffed animal doesn’t fix everything, but having my childhood stuffed puppy to hold onto when I was little always helped me. Im 17 so I can’t do anything to help heal any of those pediatric patients who are sick, but I knew I could help some feel less afraid if they had a best friend to hold onto. So I decided that I would ask different toy store, and shop owners to see if they might be interested in helping me by providing The Best Friends Project with donations of stuffed animals to pediatric offices, medical departments, and emergency rooms. And I have received such supportive commitment from companies like Toys and Co, and Polliwogs in donating the stuffed animals, and helping raise monetary donations for the purchase of the comfort toys for the pediatric patients who are being treated, or undergoing testing. I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested in helping a high schooler with something like this but it’s been really exciting to see others commit and want to help. It's been a reminder that humanity is all around us if we just look.

 

So this is really meaningful to me as it feels like it is all tied to my own path of eventually doing something with science and medicine as I look towards college and my future. My family and I believe that there is a reason for why things happen. And as much as I wish I didn’t have to cope with what my own medical experiences brought upon my life, it has given my the ability to understand what it feels like to be the patient sitting on the table with the crinkly paper below me waiting for test results, and feeling real fear. And what the emotional tole is deep down inside when you have to just push through even though you're worried and scared the entire time of what is happening in the moment, and what will be revealed about your future. Doing the Best Friend Project inspired by my own childhood stuffed toy, Sophie Dog and my experiences as a pediatric patient seems to have more meaning if I can create something like this from it. 

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I hope you will join me in this mission to make a difference for pediatric patients by helping make it possible for them to have a best friend to hold onto during some of  life's hardest moments.

 

Sincerely,

Christian