13-Year-Old Girl Crafts Over 100 Superhero Capes for Preemie Babies in NICU for Halloween
There’s something special about superheroes. It’s not just that they’re popular fiction characters sure to elicit delight in kids and adults alike.
They also have an aura of strength about them. They represent everything that’s noble and tough, valiant and overcoming.
Perhaps that’s why superheroes have become something of a staple in hospitals, particularly children’s hospitals. They help young patients feel mighty when they’re anything but.
Just consider what members of the Boston Bruins hockey team did on Oct. 26. According to WHDH, not only did they show up at Boston Children’s Hospital to cheer up some ill children, they did so in full superhero regalia.
Kids got to beam as pro-hockey players walked the halls dressed as Superman and Captain America, and some even transformed into hirsute versions of Elsa and Ana from Disney’s “Frozen.” “My son wanted me to be Spider-Man, but there were no Spider-Man costumes, so I figured Batman was second on his list,” center Patrice Bergeron said.
“We’re in a situation where we can give back to the community. Hopefully (it’ll) put a smile on a kid’s face that’s going through some tough times.”
The Emilio Nares Foundation seemed to fully agree with that sentiment. On Sept. 24, the group helped form a human ribbon at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California, to foster awareness of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
But they didn’t do so by simply having individuals clasp hands. They dressed 100 children who were fighting various cancers in superhero capes.
“We are just giving these superheroes the capes that they so rightly have earned as they battle this terrible disease,” explained Karen Terra, who works with the group. KNSD reported that the Emilio Nares Foundation exists to support youngsters with cancer and their families.
Rachel Maretsky of Orlando, Florida, didn’t have the fiscal power of a foundation behind her. However, she determined that she’d do everything in her power to give a little boost to the families of premature infants at Winnie Palmer Hospital’s NICU.
Rachel decided to make tiny capes for the tiny babies for the second year in a row. The capes bore the emblems of famous superhero franchises, only in itsy-bitsy, miniaturized form.
“The Incredibles” appeared, as did Superman. Batman and Wonder Woman also made appearances.
The best part of the whole thing? Rachel didn’t go out and buy them.
Instead, the Associated Press reported that she made over 100 of them out of felt and secured their pieces with hot glue. Oh, did I mention that Rachel is only 13 years old?
You might wonder why a young teen would go through all the trouble to help struggling infants who won’t even remember their first Halloween. For Rachel, though, the answer is obvious.
She said that these babies are superheroes in their own right. And she plans on repeating the project next year.
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