Fox 4 'Pay It Forward' honors 6-year-old Grace, who donated birthday gifts to fellow patients
“I don’t know how we would have gotten through everything without Child Life”
This Christmas, 6-year-old Grace Holmes was thinking of other kids fighting the same fight she just went through – cancer. Grace received her last round of chemotherapy Dec. 22 and is officially in remission after beating stage 5 kidney cancer after six months of treatment at Children’s Mercy.
“I don’t know how we would have gotten through everything without Child Life,” said Grace’s mom, Mara Holmes. “Elizabeth Valdivia was at every appointment, holding Grace’s hand and coaching her on how to breathe. Honestly Child Life held all our hands and helped our entire family, including our son, Brennan. They made us feel like, no matter what, they would be by our side and we were going to be okay. Our family mantra has been to ‘fight cancer with grace.’ Our Grace did just that! We are so thankful to Children’s Mercy and wanted to give back.”
Grace donated some of her own birthday gifts, as well as toys donated by Bonner Spring Elementary fourth graders, to Children’s Mercy so kids stuck in the hospital on Christmas could receive presents too. Along the way, Kansas City’s Fox 4 News jumped on board recognizing Grace as their “Pay It Forward” recipient and gifting her with $300. Grace donated the money to Child Life to purchase additional toys for the holidays.
See the special moment by going to http://fox4kc.com/category/news/pay-it-forward/.
Click here to learn more about Child Life.
Discover ways you can help: www.childrensmercy.org/give