12-year-old makes blankets for fellow cancer patients

Andrea Olsen made her son a fleece blanket to comfort him during chemotherapy at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

She worked on it in Elijah's hospital room. He watched from his bed. He was tired, sick. He wanted to go home.

“Elijah said ‘We should make a blanket for other kids to help them with their homesickness,'” Andrea said.

She bought more fabric.

Elijah was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in August - four days after 12th birthday. It is a cancer that occurs primarily in the bone or soft tissue, most often in the thigh, shin or upper arm.

He underwent seven rounds of chemotherapy soon after the diagnosis. The medicine made him ill, but working on the blankets took his mind off the pain.

“I know that it doesn't really feel good to go through this,” said Elijah, a seventh grader at Taft Middle School. “It helps to have something with you.”

Elijah and his mom delivered 11 blankets to pediatric cancer patients in the hospital. The deliveries stopped when H1N1 struck, but Elijah didn't stop making the blankets. He has 23 ready to give away and the fabric to make more.

“We figure we need at least 100,” Andrea said.

Andrea and her husband, Mark, shared their son's idea with friends and family. She posted it on Facebook. They responded by sending material. The staff at Van Buren Elementary School, Elijah's former school, offered their support.

The school initiated a coin drive to raise money for Elijah's project. The goal is to collect loose change for a gift card to purchase more material.

“We have the money in my big cheese puff barrel from Sam's Club in my office,” said Jan Fields, Van Buren's enrichment coordinator.

It weighed nearly 38 pounds on Monday.

“Once you are a student at Van Buren, you are always part of their family,” Andrea said.

The coin drive ended yesterday - the same day Elijah has surgery for a growing prosthesis. The expandable prosthesis will grow as Elijah grows using an electromagnetic field.

Barring complications, Elijah will have seven more rounds of chemotherapy about a month after surgery. Physical therapy will begin a month later. By spring, Elijah should be healthy.

But he won't forget the children still fighting cancer. He will make blankets until he reaches his goal.

“It makes me happy to make them happy,” Elijah said.