CINCINNATI — It's hard thinking of a scenario worse than a child in the hospital for weeks on end around the holidays. Hebron mom Brandi Hamilton remembers when her son, Nash, was at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center fighting stage four neuroblastoma cancer.
For days and weeks on end, he was in a hospital-issued gown that was far too big for him and devoid of any color. And those hospital-issued gowns have metal snaps, which means for multiple types of scans, the gowns have to be removed.
Nash, now 7 years old and cancer-free, remembers those gowns and how cold he would be when he had to remove them.
"It's very cold in the hospital. If you change, it won't be very good for you, because it's it's very cold," said Nash.
"We would've done anything to make him more comfortable in the hospital," said Brandi. "Anything to ease his anxiety and his medical PTSD. And we realized at the end of his journey that that had a lot to do with what he wore and not having him change clothes before a scan."
Brandi found Brave Gowns, a company out of California that creates colorful, fun hospital gowns made to fit kids. They have plastic snaps too, which means kids don't have to disrobe multiple times a day.
"The gown is, I'm not kidding. It's very comfortable," Nash said.
The gowns look like superheroes or princesses. Brandi says they brighten the kids' day and give the doctors something to talk to them about; a way to connect to caregivers or even other kids they pass in the hospital hallways.
Five years ago, Brandi decided to raise enough money to fund 550 Brave Gowns to be distributed to patients at Cincinnati Children's.
Recently, she got a call from a surgical nurse at Children's who informed her those gowns were nearly all gone. The kids love them and they desperately need more.
So Brandi set a mission to get 600 more gowns donated to Cincinnati Children's. And boy, did you step up to help: More than 868 have been donated to Children's, and Brandi is hoping to get that number to 1,000 now.
"You're one click away from making a kid's day: $25 for a gown that a kid will wear every day for months," Brandi said. "It instantly puts smiles on their faces and it's so functional. It's functional for the hospital, for the doctors, for the patient, but emotionally it gives so much joy to the kids."
The link to donate a gown is here.
Brandi Hamilton will be collecting donations for the gowns until December 15.
To those who decide to donate, Nash has a message of gratitude.
"I'll say thank you. I really want other kids to have them because I had cancer for almost a year and I had these and I want other kids to enjoy them and be brave with these gowns."
