About the Nonprofit
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Anna’s Pals has grown from an organization that was responsible for some programs at Boston Children’s Hospital to one that has expanded its work to other area hospitals. They have a maintained dedication to improving the lives of hospitalized children and their families. Anna’s Pals has provided meals, snacks, other bedside distractions to children with long term hospitalizations due to cancer treatment.
Each year, hundreds of pediatric patients in the Greater Boston area receive transplants, chemotherapy and other medications that suppress their immune system. It can take six months to a year–sometimes more–for the immune system to work as it should after a transplant. During that time, isolation from the outside world becomes a matter of life and death. Many of the everyday comforts we are all familiar with, from eating watermelon to going on a weekend trip to the lake, are off limits, adding significant mental stress to the physical challenges they’re undergoing. We all had a tiny taste of this type of isolation during the COVID-19 quarantine. Anna’s Pals will offer a safe, necessary oasis from these restrictions–a precious harbor in an unimaginable storm.
Anna’s Pals Beach House will offer an essential respite from a clinical environment for immunocompromised, pediatric cancer patients and their families, allowing them the opportunity to breathe fresh ocean air and recharge, while connecting with other families who have had similar experiences, and helping to prepare them for the road ahead. These kids are confined to their homes due to their body’s inability to fight infection. We will create an environment specifically designed to meet the cleanliness requirements of these sick kids, allowing them the ability to have a bit of an escape from the confinements of their medical condition. The former Hoxie School in Bourne, Ma will be the location for this incredible escape.
