It’s no secret that Gage’s school was about as supportive as a community can be to a little boy and his family in medical crisis. They shared our fear with the impending transplant and they shared our joy over Gage’s remarkable recovery. They were unbelievably supportive of Gage by giving him a send-off party, signs, gifts, cards, and a yellow-ribbon clad school on the day of his return back to class.

This month as part of a Being Thankful theme the PTA arranged, they are including Children’s Hospital dialysis unit as a beneficiary. They have asked families to donate new DVDs, video games or monetary donations to the unit in of honor Gage.

How mind-boggling is that?

So, Gage and Grandma bought 4 movies and I’ll be sending in a little money for video games for the Nintendo Cube games they need.

The kids on dialysis typically have about 3 1/2 hours of time to fill. In our city, the high schoolers are usually on the early 6:30am shift giving them time to get to school and have a decently full day. The babies and toddlers are usually in the mid-day shift because they don’t have school and the elementary kids get the afternoon shift that begins at 2:30 and runs to rush hour traffic. The times that Gage did the early shift I noticed most of the high schoolers slept. Because that’s what teenagers do. The babies/toddlers nap/watch TV and the older kids, like Gage, do homework, then are left to watch a movie, TV or play video games.

I must say that the movies they had while Gage was there were slim pickings (although Gage was usually happy with a Scooby movie or cartoon) and there weren’t plenty o’video games either. So this gift of movies and video games? Will be enjoyed immensely.

I would venture to say that every children’s hospital in a major city has a dialysis unit. If you want to do something nice for a children’s hospital unit not always in the foreground of the media attention; the dialysis unit would be a great one.

Larger hospitals will have a Child Life Specialist and they would be a great contact for knowing what gifts they can use in the department. If the hospital doesn’t have one, then a Social Worker for the department would be the contact. Sometimes they can use party supplies for a holiday, trinkets to giveaway, or birthday gift bags for the kids. The hospital teacher, if there is one, can use some things too for helping the kids stay motivated for their school work if not regular school supplies.

So Gage’s struggle has led a small, public, community school to reach out to some other kids faced with the same struggles. It overwhelms me in a way that touches the very soul that loves the boy with the mischievous grin. And the dialysis unit that kept him alive.