Think back to your earliest childhood memories. Do they involve a blanket?
If so, maybe that’s because they’re soft and warm, and they make you feel good.
In this week’s “Positively Cincinnati,” we’re introducing you to a woman who’s tapped into the therapeutic warmth of a blanket to help some cancer patients.
We met 78-year-old Pat Campbell at her well-stocked workroom in Greendale, Indiana. That’s where she’s been sewing a whole lot of care into a quilt a week for about a year now. For her, it’s a kind of “Golden Rule” goodness.
“I saw patients getting chemotherapy, and thought maybe they needed a little lift,” she said.
That thought was rooted in her own experience. Pat battled back from cancer, herself. She “gives” because she knows how game-changing in tough times it can be to “get.”
“A plain little quilt with flannel on the back to cover up in a cold room tells them somebody’s thinking of them. Yeah. Yeah,” said Campbell.
So she takes her work from her home to the gynecology care home for St. Elizabeth patients walking the same path she walked. WCPO 9 News was there to see Campbell deliver her blankets – meant to warm not just the body, but the soul.
Nurse Mary Beck said, “A lot of patients in chemo need something to feel good about. This is one thing we could offer them to make them feel appreciated.”
And to give them hope at the same time.
Survivor Kathy Bryant, who’s in the fight, says the quilt kindness counts in a big way. And it helps her visualize her future.
“I have a lot to live for,” said Kathy, “I have some beautiful, beautiful grandchildren. This blanket will be on my bed for years. I ain’t kidding you.”
Call it a “time touchpoint” – and a way to cover herself in love. And it’s all from a woman who understands Kathy’s journey, and takes joy in making the trek a little softer.
Pat says her quilt guild, “The Quilt Batts,” is “all in” with the effort at St. E’s.
They have quilt shows which is how they make money to buy material for donated quilts.
