A few months ago, 6-year-old Caden Garcia set out to make medical situations less scary for children being treated at the UMC Health System Southwest Cancer Center.
Caden (AKA Caden Monster) and his parents Michelle and Gabriel Garcia, organized the Caden Monster Band-Aid Drive after Caden finished his last round of chemotherapy at the Southwest Cancer Center. The goal was to replace drab bandages with fun alternatives.
Thanks to the donations of colorful cartoon and superhero bandages from TTUHSC faculty, staff, students and generous Lubbock residents, children undergoing cancer treatment at UMC will have something to smile about.
Boxes of bandages were collected at the Walgreens at 34th Street and Indiana Avenue and the OB-GYN laboratory at run by Lindsay Penrose, Ph.D., research assistant professor and resident research coordinator in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Samuel Prien, Ph.D., professor, director of the Clinical Research Lab, director of the IVF Lab and director of resident research.
“I think it was a wonderful success, there were 67 boxes donated at the lab for the drive,” Penrose said. “Michelle Garcia told me that Caden had collected more than 2,000 boxes of Band-Aids.”
