Cookies for kids!! Support CHOP

I am Samantha Gatesman,

an 8th grader. When I was in kindergarten I had Systemic JIA, a rare disorder that caused inflammation and potential deformation of your joints. I stayed in a local hospital for a night where they were unable to determine the cause of my illness. Then, the local hospital transferred me to CHOP for specialty care. During my 11 day stay at CHOP, many things were special to me. They made me feel comfortable and let me have fun. I remember on Halloween, I was not allowed to go out but they had people walk around in costumes with candy that came to visit my hospital room. CHOP is a teaching hospital, so they included all the latest medical thinking. This is very important because in my case it was a team approach who studied my blood work results over several days leading to the correct diagnosis for my symptoms. In the end, CHOP found the drug for me to be symptom free and live a normal life. I want to give back to CHOP because they allowed to feel comfortable during a very scary time in my life.