Ten-years-old Maci is quite the cutie pie! She started her fight against juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) when she was two. Most recently she has been battling TMJ, and a recent MRI revealed a lesion on her brain.

So, Maci is doing something extra! She is doing a “blanket drive” for her children’s hospital. She decided to do this because when she goes for MRIs and other tests, they give her a blanket. When she recently got her third MRI in a short span of time, she said, “I am taking too many.” So she said to her mom, “We’ve got to get more blankets for the other kids.”

When driving home from her last MRI, groggy from sedation, her mom hears her mumble, “Can we get some blankets for the hospital?” With Mom’s help, Maci started an Amazon Wish List for Sherpa Blankets. They hoped to collect 10 blankets. Friends and family had already donated 63 blankets by the next morning! At the time of the interview, Maci had collected 366!

It was time to deliver the blankets to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC). Maci said, “The blankets wouldn’t fit in our car, so we had to get a box truck!” They had to go to the hospital storage warehouse because all the blankets would not fit in the hospital closet.

Do you know an amazing kid with chronic illness who gives back to the community? Nominate them at ppf@purpleplayasfoundation.com