Sewing With Nancy

My Nancy's Corner guest is here to inspire you to make pouches for kids who need distraction while waiting for a treatment. It takes very little time to create yet gives great joy to kids as well as their families. Please welcome Sabra Bateman co-founder of Patient Pouches and TandB Foundation who joins us today via Skype from South Carolina. Thanks for joining us, Sabra. Thank you for having me, Nancy. When I heard the story about Patient Pouches I was really touched. Share with our viewers the history of patient pouches. Okay. Well, my friend and I, Lindsay Barnett started TandB Foundation with the intent of starting to provide Patient Pouches to pediatric cancer patients who were in need as the wait for long appointments prior to surgery or long treatment days. We started TandB Foundation in September of 2013 and, again, our goal was to provide a pouch full of activities that kids could use to help distract them, as they wait for long appointments on surgery days. Now Sabra, you know about this from first-hand experience. I do. My son, who was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma, which is an eye cancer at the age of two weeks old. He started treatment immediately and has been in current treatment ever since. So he has had multiple surgery days and multiple times under anesthesia. These kids have to wait. They have to go without food or drink because they are having surgery. So they need a distraction to help occupy the time on long appointment days. There's a free pattern on-line to make the pouches. People can embellish them however they'd like. That's right. As you can see by some of the photos we have had a tremendous response from people who share our desire to help support these kids and provide something for them to do. We have had very creative people supply us pouches which these kids get to take home with them. When they check in for their surgery the check-in desk gives them one of these pouches which are all age-appropriate based on the child's age and visual needs. We do have some children that do not have vision or very poor vision. So each of the pouches is custom to an age group, and boy or a girl. Our seamstresses have helped us so much in creating pouches that the kids love to carry around. As you mentioned, age-appropriate. I made notes that you have from newborn to eight-plus-years old so inside the pouches could be put some crayons or stuffed toys, or whatever you think or the seamstress thinks should be inside. That's right. We have a wish list that we've created of items that we've put in. We try to include at least one educational activity. Because these children often are missing school when they get to be school-age. But they're also just fun things for the children to do, coloring activities and arts and craft activities, and Play-Doh and stuffed animals, anything, stickers. Anything that you can think of to help distract a child. Many of your pouches have been given to a hospital in Philadelphia, Wills Eye Hospital. Is that correct? That's correct. That's where both my son and Lindsay's son have received the majority of their treatment. At this point we've donated over 400 Patient Pouches but our goal is to expand and to reach out to other children's hospitals throughout the United States. In order to do that we have to have the support of people to help make the pouches and then also to supply donations to fill the pouches. At TandB Foundation we are completely dependant on the donation of others. That's why we're so excited that you're willing to help us out. Well, Sabra I think you for joining us. I could almost guarantee that you're going to have some Patient Pouches delivered to you just for this purpose and to spread the word, and to spread the ideas. Thank you for being with us. Oh, thank you so much, again Nancy, for having us and supporting TandB Foundation. You're very welcome, Sabra. And hi to Lindsay as well. Thank you. If you'd like to find out more information about this you can go to our website nancyzieman.com. Click on "Nancy's Corner". As always, thanks for joining us. Bye for now.