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An Inspiring Woman on a Mission: Jessica Kidd

women on a mission Nov 02, 2017
 

Jessica Kidd knows that being in the hospital, regardless of your age, is no fun.

“First just the reason you are there, and then having to wait hours and hours trying to figure out what’s going on while wearing a one-size-fits-no-one hospital gown,” she recently told a TEDx audience at George Washington University.

Imagine how much more difficult that experience is for a child.

It was something that Jessica had thought about for years as she worked for or volunteered in emergency services and pediatric critical care. There really weren’t hospital gowns that fit children. They were generically designed, too large, and sometimes downright uncomfortable because of the texture or the cleaning chemicals used on them.

The situation was driven home when Jessica’s young daughter was admitted for a possible concussion after a fall. Nothing fit her small frame, so doctors left her in her regular clothes, but that meant being stuck in that outfit for more than 24 hours while they did extensive EEG testing.

Jessica reached out to a friend whose daughter, Gracie, was undergoing treatment for pediatric cancer. What about creating customized, free hospital gowns for kids battling cancer or chronic illnesses? The friend thought it was a great idea, and Gracie’s Gowns was born.

Since that time, Jessica and a team of volunteers have created thousands of gowns for children that are personalized and designed with both comfort and medical access in mind. Each child receiving a gown is expected to spend a good deal of their childhood in a hospital setting fighting a life-threatening or chronic illness, such as heart defects, cancer or genetic disorders. (Believe it or not, that’s a staggering large number in this country; Jessica noted in her TEDx talk that each year, 10,000 children in the United States are admitted into the hospitals for stays that will last at least a month.)

Requests for gowns are made on the Gracie’s Gown website. Families can request just one gown or can ask for “grow with me gowns,” if they expect their child to be in and out of hospitals for years (under the program, larger gowns are provided for free as the child gets bigger). The material of each gown reflects the child’s interests, so there are superhero gowns, princess gowns, gowns bedecked with flowers or hearts, and so many more. To make each gown even more personal, the child’s name or nickname is embroidered on it.

Knowing that siblings of ill children can feel left out or are confused by the lengthy hospital stays of their brothers or sisters, Gracie’s Gowns will also create a stuffed frog toy for them out of the same material as their sick sibling’s gown, or in a material that reflects their interest, so they feel more included.

Since its foundation in 2012, Gracie’s Gowns had worked with partners whose similar projects fit quite well with the gown concept. For example, a start-up called Handsocks, which makes long-sleeved arm and hand covers for infants to keep them from pulling out hospital tubing or scratching themselves, is partnering with Gracie’s Gowns. Jessica’s nonprofit, meanwhile, donates remnant material to more than a dozen other nonprofits that make everything from hats to socks to blankets for hospitalized children.

Just as it was her daughter’s fall that prompted Jessica to begin her nonprofit, medical events of the past year reaffirmed her purpose. Jessica herself was unexpectedly hospitalized and reminded of the uncertainty and discomfort that often comes with hospital stays. Then, just a few months later, her son took a fall and Jessica felt something “off” near his ribcage. Thinking it was a broken rib, she took him for an exam, only to find out there was a shadow on his x-ray. The doctors recommended surgery to take the growth out, biopsy it and determine whether it was benign or not.

Jessica’s son, who has autism, was furious that he was going into the hospital. There was a fight. Finally, he said that he didn’t want to be one of her kids who got gowns, he hated that idea – but if he had to go to the hospital, could his gown have Pokemons on it?

Of course it could.

Ironically, the gown got left behind at home on the day of his surgery, but that was the only bad news. The growth doctors removed was benign. Jessica’s son would be fine. Now he wears his Pokemon gown as pajamas at least once a week. Jessica asked him why once. He said because even though he didn’t get to wear it in the hospital, the gown makes him feel special and safe and, besides, his Mommy made it just for him.

“The hardest part of that whole experience was realizing that I was walking in the shoes of the families I work with every day,” Jessica said. “Children having to undergo testing and procedures they don’t understand and every day, their parents tell them, ‘You don’t have a choice. This is what’s going to keep you alive.’ It is a very real threat that their child may not wake up the next morning.”

In fact, over the past five years, close to 100 of the children that have received Gracie’s Gowns have died (the website has a memorial for them under the title “Our Angels.”) Some were buried in their gowns.  But so many more are continuing to battle their diseases each day, just a little more comfortable in that fight because of the nonprofit Jessica started.

Gracie’s Gowns is currently not taking new orders as they work to fulfill a backorder of about 350 gowns. They are expected to start taking new requests later this fall.

Are you a Woman on a Mission? A #ChangeMaker working hard to make the world a kinder, brighter place for those in need? I'd love to share your story.

All you have to do is fill out this form and share with me your vision, your mission, your journey and the impact you're making through the work of your small nonprofit. I'd love to feature you as a Woman on a Mission AND bring a little more attention to your good work with a little marketing love!