... Chemo Duck is a 12-inch stuffed duck, dressed in hospital pajamas and a bandana wrapped around his head. Secured to his chest is a bandage with either a central line or a port (the vehicle used to take chemotherapy directly into the blood stream). And on his arm he wears an arm immobilizer called a "No-no." The arm immobilizer protects peripheral IVs and discourages children from bending the arm to pull at bandages, etc. The stuffed animal is a both a comfort item and a teaching tool used to familiarize the patient with cancer protocol and procedures.
For Lu Sipos, it's an endeavor fueled by her heart and a way to help other pediatric cancer patients the way her own son was helped. Soon after Gabe Sipos was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of fibrous cancer, on Christmas Day in 2002, his mother dressed a favorite stuffed duck in hospital pajamas and a do-rag and added a central line.
"When a child becomes chronically ill, all parental roles are stripped and somebody else is in charge of your child's life," she said. "You don't have much to give as a parent. I changed the duck into a tool to help Gabe, and it gave me back my role as a parent.
"It empowered him and me," Sipos said. "It helped him understand what was coming up and helped him work through it all. He seemed to get more at ease over time and became much less nervous about all he was going through."
After sending her husband out to buy every duck he could find like the one Gabe received, she doctored the ducks to look like Gabe's and handed them out to other children in the hospital, until "eventually the money and the ducks ran out." Then, after Gabe was successfully treated at Children's Hospital, she created a non-profit organization called Gabe's My Heart.
Sipos has promised Children's Hospital 300 Chemo Ducks over the next two and one-half years. Another 200 are available through the organization's Web site,
http://www.Gabesmyheart.com.
"Children's Hospital has been fantastic," she said. "We have very, very strong links to the hospital and owe them so much. They were so instrumental in helping us pilot this program."
Sipos and Gabe recently attended a party at Children's Hospital launching the beginning of the Chemo Duck giveaway. "It was a precious, precious moment seeing that kind of light in a child's eye," Sipos said. "One child told his mom, 'that duck's sick like me.' That's exactly what this is about - a strong bond with a friend, and helping parents educate their child."
Sipos is seeking more donations for her organization, and is applying for grants and looking for a major sponsor to take the project nationwide. "It's a dream," she says.
Meanwhile Gabe is doing well, two years after therapy, and has no signs of recurrence.
