Oroville, CA, Oroville Hospital will be passing out bags filled with goodies to young hospital patients thanks to two 10 year old cancer survivors from Oroville: Natalie Stampanoni, a non-hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor, and Brennen Brockman, a leukemia survivor.
Natalie and Brennen discovered that between treatment and shots there was utter boredom. Together, they came up with the idea of putting together fun bags to help kids who are fighting cancer or any other illness, fight boredom while in the hospital.
That’s why they named their organization Fight with Fun Bags. Each bag contains toys, coloring books, stuffed animals, and stress balls. Also, each bag has a colored bracelet that signifies the kind of cancer each young patient is fighting.
They met when they were both attending a Make-A-Wish camp in Florida. Brennen spotted Natalie and told his mom, “Hey, I know that girl!” It turned out that they both attended Golden Hills Elementary School in Oroville together. They quickly became friends.
Natalie and Brennen were hanging out together right before Thanksgiving, talking with their parents, about ways they could help kids currently going through cancer treatment, when they hit upon the fun bag idea. The stress balls were Natalie’s idea, “I used to hold my mom’s hand and she would yell because I squeezed so hard.”
Natalie’s mother, Jennifer Stampanoni, and Brennen’s mother, Shelly Robley, quickly gathered together the items for the Fun Bags and both kids got to work stuffing the bags.
Kathy Nehl, Patient Experience Liaison and Certified Recreational Therapist, accepted the bags on behalf of Oroville Hospital, and said, “We are touched, and extremely proud to be associated with Fight for Fun Bags. We can’t wait to start passing them out to the children. As a matter of fact, I’m heading out to give one to a little girl right now.”