Local Boy Receiving Help As He Helps Comfort Other Children

Local Boy Receiving Help As He Helps Comfort Other Children

Pictured holding some of the donated “Cooper’s Care Cases” from left are Brittney Lorson, Heartland Health Care Clinic RN; Michelle McClanahan, MHS Director of Volunteer Services; Abby Garver, AMS Science teacher; Destiny Burt, AHS student; Cooper Holloway, Adara James, AHS Student; and Deb Farr, AHS Family and Consumer Sciences teacher.

Cooper Holloway, 7, of Abilene continues to create his “Cooper’s Care Cases” (C3) to give to hospitals, but now he is getting a lot of help. Abilene High School (AHS) students in the Human Growth & Development class are now helping to create the “cases”, which are actually a draw-string sack. Approximately 50 students worked on the sacks at some point during five or six class periods in Deb Farr’s classroom. Abby Garver, family friend and science teacher at Abilene Middle School (AMS), adds the grommets and strings to the sacks. All of the material for the sacks is donated.

Cooper was diagnosed in May of 2013 with a Common Variable Immune Disease which makes it hard for his body to fight off illness. He has to have a plasma transfusion with T and B cells once a week. When making trips to the hospital in Kansas City, Cooper had to bring a bag of his own toys and books from home. One day while at the hospital, Cooper said to his mother, Dawn, that he wished that all of the kids had their own bag of things. So that is where the idea started for C3.

The “case”, which Cooper fills, contains a notebook for writing and coloring, a story book, small notepads, crayons, a pen, pencils, stickers, and a note from Cooper to “stay strong like Cooper.” The Human Growth & Development class at AHS will help with the project again next semester.

Cooper recently donated 100 bags to Memorial Hospital in Abilene which will be given to children who are patients in the Emergency Department, Laboratory, Radiology, In-Patient Unit, and Heartland Health Care Clinic.

Cooper provides his care cases to help children “stay strong”, just like him, during their stay in a medical facility.

If you would like to donate material for the sacks, which is new and kid-friendly, please contact Deb Farr at Abilene High School, email: dfarr@abileneschools.org, or Abby Garver at Abilene Middle School, email: agarver@abileneschools.org.