Today was Northern NY’s 2nd For a Day party! It was a huge success and we definitely added excitement to the patients and staff’s day. In attendance were my wonderful volunteers; Myself, Jordynn Barnhart, Kielan Whitner, Tejah Robinson and Heather Case. Kielan Whitner who is an SU football player and Master Chief were our special guests.  In total, we saw 5 girls and 10 boys.

We started off at the Upstate Cancer Center outpatient clinic. We set up food, and organized a basket full of tiaras, boas, a huge variety of nail polish and makeup, super hero capes and masks, superhero toy figures, a basketball, coloring books and star wars puzzles.  

We walked around and offered toys, coloring books, masks and capes which one of the little boys immediately put it on.  He beamed with happiness and portrayed a real superhero with his energy and personality. It was amazing making them smile and providing toys, boas and tiaras. Our last visitor was a little girl in the inpatient ward. She was pleasantly surprised to see us and got to choose some nail polish and makeup. I truly believe we made a difference that day.

One child who stood out was a 5 year old boy who was receiving IV infusion. He was walking around the clinic with the nurse. He started running down the hall with the IV still hooked up to him. The nurse asked him to slow down. “No, we must run and go faster!” He exclaimed. Even with him being ill and receiving treatment, he refused to let it get him down. All of the children were full of personality and they made us laugh so much. We also managed to get them to smile for most of the visit.

Our special guests were Kielan Whitner, Master Chief & Mrs. Onondaga County!

I would like to thank my sponsors; Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Inc., Mario’s Bakery who donated 5 dozen half-moons for the party, and all of our individual monetary & toy donations.

It is always a pleasure hosting these events as we really get to make a difference in these children's lives even if it is just for a few moments.

I am proud to announce we also made it on the news! http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2018/02/12/cancer-patients-treated-to-surprise-party

We saw 5 girls and 10 boys.