Another Special Day...

Peter and Megan CHOP, King of Prussia

​Peter’s days off from school look different from most Middle School students, he usually spends them traveling to and from medical visits or working on his foundation.  October 12th was no different as we traveled to King of Prussia to meet Megan from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s ( CHOP) Foundation.  We had lunch with her and discussed Peter’s cancer journey and his Peter Powerhouse Foundation plans.   We mainly discuss the need to place CinemaVision Goggles in their MRI suites

Inside the King of Prussia Facility

​After lunch we travel to their new King of Prussia (KOP) outpatient facility.  We were surprised to learn that they have oncology services there that include chemotherapy infusions.  They have a MRI suite on that campus but no goggles for the kids to watch movies or listen to music during the long scanning process.

On the conference call

​We left we a plan in place to meet again via a conference call on October 25th with Megan and Katelyn from the CHOP Foundation and Christine and Parvez their Radiology Managers.  We had to schedule the call around Pete’s school day and after the bus dropped him off; that was a first for everyone involved.
 
We enjoyed good conversation and learned that there are nine MRI scanners on the main campus and one (and plans for a second) on the KOP campus.  We plan to add goggles to the PET/MRI in the Buerger Center, a MRI machine on their downtown campus that would be used almost exclusively by cancer kids and the KOP facility because local cancer kids are treating there and local non-cancer kids are scanning there for other reasons too.
 
We were surprised to learn that they have so many scanners and no goggles.  When I asked Peter how he felt about that he said, “That makes me determined to work even harder to add more!”  We have work to do to get quotes and equipment in place but we look forward to bringing this safety and comfort the children that that at CHOP.  Peter was three-years-old when he stopped breathing during a MRI due to sedation induced respiratory failure.  We don’t want anyone else to experience that.
 

​On a side-note:  We were delighted to deliver breakfast to the inpatient cancer families at CHOP on October 12th and lunch today, on October 25th.  As a childhood cancer family we are keenly aware of the financial hardship this diagnosis puts on these families and the stress they face just leaving their child for a few moments grab a bite to eat.