A new Northern Kentucky foundation is helping kids with serious illnesses face their circumstances with courage.
“Our biggest mission is to provide kids comfort, care and spread the message that you can be brave and scared at the same time,” said Derrick Robinson, founder of the Brave Like Remington Foundation
The Brave Like Remington Foundation fulfills its mission by creating personalized care boxes and sending them to kids with serious illnesses.
The foundation gets its name from Robinson’s two-year-old daughter Remington, who was diagnosed with a form of nerve cancer at the end of June. Robinson said that Remington often struggled with fear about her condition, and even though hospitals and other service providers were able to help with the medical aspect of the disease, facing the fear was another matter.
“When Remington faced something frightening — a shot, getting poked, prodded — I told her something I created, which was the one big brave breath,” Robinson said. “We wanted to let her know that it was okay to be scared, and being brave didn’t mean she had to stop feeling scared.”
“We want the child to open the box and feel seen for who they are beyond what they’re going through medically,” Robinson also said. “We want them to be able to feel seen for them being themselves.”
Items included things like soft blankets, crayons and activities, stuff that really caters to their interests. The goal is to make a hospital room feel a little more like home and help the child, and even the family, feel a little more at ease. They’re dubbed “Brave Boxes” after the “big brave breath.”
Robinson and his family, who live in Erlanger, launched the foundation on Sept. 6 and have delivered 12 boxes around the country since then. They had hoped to focus mostly on the Greater Cincinnati region, Robinson said, but they’re seeing interest from throughout the country.
Parents, guardians and social workers at hospitals can reach out to the foundation requesting a box and a list of items. Each box is personalized.
“The parents tell us their child’s age, the things they love and then we choose items with that particular child in mind,” Robinson said. “Every box is built specifically for the child that’s receiving it.”
Haley Hutson’s three-year-old daughter Lennix received a box.
“It made her entire day,” she said. “I think she sat and kept this stuff in that box and played with it for a week straight.”
Lennix was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 11 months old. She takes medicine twice a day. She experiences grand mal seizures, which can lead to loss of consciousness and at times violent muscle contractions.
“It’s been really rough,” Hutson said, but getting the Brave Box helped brighten Lennix’s mood.
“She got a new blanket,” Hutson said. “She got a stuffed animal, Peppa Pig. She loves cheerleaders, so she got some pom poms. She got coloring books, crayons; so much stuff I can’t even really remember.”
You can request a Brave Box, donate to the Brave Like Remington Foundation or learn more about the organization’s mission at bravelikeremington.org.
