Oswego Family's Fundraiser to Honor Daughter Sydney’s Third Birthday

Jenna Brown, Founder of Love Smiles created an online fundraiser titled “Sydney’s Giveback Birthday Bash” to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. The charitable fundraiser was in honor of three-year-old cancer patient Sydney Brown’s third birthday. Sydney was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at four months old.

The cost to participate in the online fundraiser was a $25 donation. When the last gift came in $325 was raised to purchase toys for kids fighting cancer.

When asked about the Treasure Chest at Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital where Sydney is being treated, Jenna had this to say, “It was a seven and a half hour chemo day. Sydney was starting to get fussy, which no one could blame her. The nurse went out to the Treasure Chest and found a Fisher Price Glow Sea Horse that plays nursery rhymes. It was soft and its belly glowed. My daughter instantly forgot she was upset and hugged that seahorse so tight. It saved our day.”

“The Treasure Chest Foundation is especially grateful to the Love Smiles family and friends for their donation of $325 worth of toys. Love Smiles annual fundraising efforts will again help make it possible for young children and teens battling cancer to receive toys and gift.” said Colleen Kisel, Founder and CEO of the Treasure Chest Foundation.

The POTCF is a unique organization whose services impact more than 16,100 young cancer patients in 66 cancer treatment centers in 21 states across the nation and in the District of Columbia. Nowhere else in the nation does such a program exist. Colleen Kisel founded the organization in 1996 after her then seven-year-old son Martin had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1993. Ms. Kisel discovered that giving her son a toy after each procedure provided a calming distraction from his pain, noting that when children are diagnosed with cancer their world soon becomes filled with doctors, nurses, chemotherapy drugs, surgeries and seemingly endless painful procedures. Martin celebrated his 30th anniversary of remission from the disease in March of this year.

If you would like further information about the Treasure Chest Foundation, please contact Colleen Kisel at 1-708-687-TOYS (8697) or visit the Foundation’s website at www.treasurechest.org.