A neat little Christmas story...

Below is a letter that I wrote today to the Hershey Bears Hockey Team and organization. I hope that you all experience Christmas miracles this holiday season - they happen each and every day around every single one of us. We just have to take the time and actually experience them!!! There was even a note on my car at Wal-Mart last night when I came out in the freezing cold with crazy winds from a woman whose 4 year old son had hit his car door into mine and how sorry she was. She left her phone number and name if I wanted to get an estimate to fix it. Who does that anymore in this crazy, rushed world? I called her, spoke with her, and told her how thankful I was there that there were good people in this world, and I wished her a Merry Christmas! Told her not to worry about a silly scratch on a car that was an accident!

Anyway, make sure you take the time this Christmas season to experiences the miracles that happen every day, even the little ones!!!

"To Whom It May Concern at Hershey Bears:

My name is Melissa R. and I am one of the pediatric oncology nurse specialists here at the Penn State Children's Hospital. I have been here at the hospital since 1998, and I have seen first hand the smiles that you put on our patient's faces and how much you all have done for the kids of Central PA. You all have always had a warm place in my heart. My husband and his friend, who are both pediatric cancer survivors from Penn State Children's Hospital and former 4 Diamonds kids, have been huge Bears' fans, and they got my brother into the Hershey Bears' a few years ago and he just loves coming to your games. He is developmentally delayed at 37 years old, and hockey is one of his passions - the Bears and the Philadelphia Flyers, his schedule revolves around the games at times!!! So, the three of them love their Saturday night games together and then late night trips to the diner afterwards!!!

A few years ago, they got to go to your first teddy bear toss game and that game has been a tradition for them. My brother especially, loves shopping for that perfect teddy bear, and he was so excited coming home telling us all about the 7,999 bears that were collected at the game a few weeks ago. His excitement is always contagious, and my husband and his friend just love it too. How cool to collects bears for children!

Well....as I have mentioned, I have always admired all that you do for the kids here at Penn State Children's Hospital. I've seen the smiles, the hugs, and the pictures being taken with the players here at the hospital. I've seen the promotions. However, I never knew how it would feel to see my own child hugging a teddy bear so tightly last night as he went to sleep - a teddy bear that came from the Hershey Bears teddy bear toss. We adopted our son in February 2009, and found out soon after we got home that he was deaf and he had a multitude of other medical issues that we have gotten him care for. He received a cochlear implant in October 2009, and now 14 months later is starting to hear things for the first time. He has lots of appointments still, and three therapy sessions a week here at the hospital, and we are so lucky for the care he has received. He has already been to his first Bears' game back in February 2010 - and I think he will be going to many more with his Daddy, Uncle, and "Uncle" as he gets older. He attends the deaf and hard of hearing preschool through the CAIU and when I opened his book yesterday and read about the bear my son received "from Santa who picked up the bear from the ice at the Hershey Bears teddy bear toss," you can only imagine the emotions that flooded me. I never thought my child would be on that receiving side, or that one little bear could mean so very much to my son and my family.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting the children of Central PA and for all that you do as an organization. http://hersheybears.com
Sincerely,
Melissa and Chris R.