There are 3 primary ways you can help:
- Pray
- Support Team Holmes at Children’s Medical Center
- Donate blood
1. Pray
Please pray for Gage and the family. You can read the specific requests on the daily updates. This is the best way you can help.
2. Support Team Holmes at Children’s Medical Center through donations with “Team Holmes” in the memo line to:
Children’s Medical Center Foundation
2777 Stemmons, Suite 1025
Dallas, TX 75207
(If you need it for your records/information, the foundation’s tax ID number is 75-2062015.)
We have established Team Holmes at Children’s Medical Center to offer hope and a helping hand to families of children battling childhood cancer.
After much prayer and many conversations, we have decided to use the funds donated to Team Holmes to establish the position of a full-time Childlife Specialist on the oncology floor at Children’s. This person will be able to love and support the families there and can…
* Be a first point of contact for newly diagnosed children and their families
* Answer questions patients and their siblings have about cancer and necessary procedures with an age-appropriate approach
* Allow parents to take much-needed breaks without having to leave their child alone in the hospital room
* Provide more time for the playroom to be open during the day (a huge need when most patients are confined to solely the 10th floor for days, weeks and months at a time)
* Care for children whose parents need to work and are unable to be with their children during the day
* And much, much more…
We have committed to raising $150,000 over the next three years to establish this position.
If you would like to join us, send a check with “Team Holmes” in the memo line to:
Children’s Medical Center Foundation
2777 Stemmons, Suite 1025
Dallas, TX 75207
If you have any further questions, please contact Brian Neitzel at bneitzel@earthlink.net
3. Donate Blood
Donating blood or platelets in Gage’s name is a great way to help out. The volunteer blood supply available to kids and adults who desperately need it is absolutely amazing. Now that we have often been on the receiving end, we know how important it is for people to give. To donate in Gage’s name, provide them with this Sponsorship # : SPON043085
Types of Donations
- Whole Blood Donation is the most common. Blood is collected and separated into red blood cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate. It takes about 30-45 minutes to donate and your can donate every 56 days.
- Platelet Donation is the part needed for leukemia patients. If you donate just platelets (aspheresis donation) you can give 6 to 10 times more platelets than during a whole blood donation. It takes about 90 minutes to donate and you can donate every two weeks up to 24 times a year.
- Directed Donation (donating for use only by Gage) is more difficult. You must be a compatible blood type, and must have the patient’s permission, and it is normally scheduled around a transfusion or procedure. It is not stored indefinitely.
Information required to donate
1.) You must meet the donor eligibility criteria found on the Carter Blood Care website. See below.
2.) You must have Gage’s Blood Donor Sponsorship Number: SPON043085 if you would like his account to be credited.
3.) You must give at a Carter Blood Care Donation Center. (see locations below) Mobile unit’s work a little differently, in case your company does an annual blood drive. Also, the Red Cross does not have any means to give blood in someone’s name, but the donation still makes a difference!
Links
Carter Blood Care www.carterbloodcare.org
Center locations: www.carterbloodcare.org/wsf/donorcenter.asp
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