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"Bucks for ducks fund" written by katherine pyles |
Ginny Blake was 16 years old when her grandfather, Huntington civic leader Mike Perry, was diagnosed with cancer. Perry battled appendiceal cancer for a year and a half before passing away in 2015, and his dedication to the community during that time had a profound impact on Blake.
“Even when he was sick, he stayed involved in the community,” Blake says. “When people wanted his advice, his door was always open, even on the really bad days.” As her grandfather endured chemotherapy treatments, Blake’s eyes began to turn toward others going through similar experiences – in particular, those much younger than the man she called “Papaw.” “I thought about how scary it would be for a child to go through what my grandpa went through.” With that, “Bucks for Ducks” was born. What started as a project for school transformed into a lasting community effort to make cancer treatment a little less scary for young patients. The Bucks for Ducks Fund provides soft, cuddly “Chemo Ducks” to children at Hoops Family Children’s Hospital. The ducks, produced by the nonprofit organization Gabe’s My Heart, wear hospital scrubs and bandanas and have some of the common medical devices used in cancer treatment, including a central line, port and feeding tube. In a whirlwind of a year, Blake set up the Bucks for Ducks Fund at Foundation for the Tri-State, established a goal of providing a Chemo Duck to every child receiving cancer treatment at the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital – around 200 children at the time – and hosted her first fundraising event. The event raised $7,000, surpassing her initial goal and inspiring her to do even more. Guided by her original mission to provide “huggable hope” to young cancer patients throughout the region, both now and in the future, Blake’s fundraising efforts continue with the help of Foundation for the Tri-State. “When you’re young and you have an idea that might make the world a better place, it’s easy to think you’ll just have to wait until you’re older to do it,” Blake says. “But you don’t have to wait. You can do it now. Once you realize the difference you can make as a young person, it just motivates you to keep going.” Perhaps what is most rewarding to Blake is living out the lessons her grandfather taught her. “It didn’t matter who you were – when you met my Papaw, he stopped what he was doing and made you feel special,” she says. “He was never too busy to make people feel loved and important. He taught me that everyone deserves to feel that way.” Additional Quotes from Ginny Blake Her grandfather, A. Michael Perry, was diagnosed with cancer on June 1, 2013, the day after his birthday. Doctors believed he only had three months to live, but he lived a year and a half. Ginny, a member of the honors program at Huntington High at the time, decided she wanted to do something for kids with cancer as her “passion project” because she couldn’t imagine how hard the chemotherapy process would be on a small child. Her mom had heard of Chemo Ducks, which, until Ginny started her project, were not available in Huntington. Ginny graduated high school a year early, but she decided to do the project anyway. She hosted a community fundraiser that raised $7,000, providing more than 200 Chemo Ducks to the children at Hoops. However, Hoops has about 54 new pediatric cancer patients each year, so Ginny started a fund at FTSC that would continue providing Chemo Ducks. She hopes to continue her involvement in the fundraising, with plans to host a Daddy-Daughter Princess Ball around Halloween 2015. The experience has inspired her to pursue a career in pediatric oncology. “If you have an idea that will help people, you need to do it. Why put it off until later when you can do it now? You never know who you’re going to help out, and you don’t know when your last opportunity to help someone will be.” “I’ve always been interested in fundraising, but it was crazy to do something that really made a difference. I’m not 5 years old and trying to buy everyone in the world a pet dog with my lemonade stand. I still have big ideas, but they’re a little more realistic.” “I wanted to do so much, but a lot of the logistics of fundraising were over my head. I gave Foundation for the Tri-State a call, and they really helped me. It was a huge relief to have them take care of the things I didn’t quite understand. I couldn’t have done this without their help.” “I got to help pass out some of the Chemo Ducks at the Hoops Family Children’s Hospital holiday party. I hadn’t gotten to see the kids I was helping until that evening, and it was so great seeing all the kids’ smiling faces. Even in really difficult circumstances, there was so much joy in that room. I think what surprised me was how young the children were. Many of the kids were just 5 years old, with some as young as 2. So seeing the families was amazing too – seeing all the bravery and courage and heartache and joy and love. When someone you love has cancer, you’ll do anything to make sure that person is taken care of.” “My grandpa had a big heart. He was there for anybody and everybody. I think he was a grandpa to all of Huntington. Everyone knew him and loved him, and it made him so happy to make others happy. When he met someone for the first time and learned their name, he’d remember their name months later. It seems like everyone I met had a story about him – a story about how he made them feel so special.” “Everybody deserves to feel special. You shouldn’t have to go through life feeling overlooked. Everybody deserves love and hope. I feel like I can give a little bit of that hope through these Chemo Ducks.” |