By Jason Mueller
Riley Holiday Cards offer friends and family more than season’s greetings during the holidays. Designed by patients at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, proceeds from the sale of the cards benefit Riley Children’s Foundation’s year-end giving campaign, The Gift of Hope Happens Here.
The program, which has been ongoing at Riley Hospital for approximately 20 years, allows patients to apply their creative skills to design cards for the season of giving. One of the five artists is Lowees Hadad, 12, of Noblesville.
Hadad was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma on Feb. 2. Since then, he has had 11 chemotherapy sessions with the support of a special Riley Hospital for Children nurse, Cathy Wilson. Lowees’ parents, Laoi and Amal, cannot speak highly enough of the care that has been given to their son. Amal has told Lowees’ physician, Holly Knoderer, to treat her son as if he were her own.
“Riley has given us a second chance,” Amal said.
Hadad is a seventh grader who loves to play Battlefield 4 on Xbox. A highlight for him has been the daily lunch visits from one of his physicians. The two of them play Xbox together – a time Hadad said he looks forward to every day.
Hadad’s card has a Christmas Tree design. The other Riley Holiday Card artists include Isaiah Burnett, 15, Crothersville (Snowman); Caitlyn Archambeault, 16, Terre Haute (Penguin); Reagan Hopf, 5, Jasper (Snowman); and Katherine Alderfer, 7, Winona Lake (Snow Globe).
Riley Holiday Cards are available in packs of 10 for $8 and are sold exclusively at www.RileyHolidayCards.com and the Riley Hospital gift shops. Proceeds support Riley Hospital to sustain and expand groundbreaking, life-saving treatment and research, facilities and accessibility.
