WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. – You never know what might touch the lives of families going through a difficult time, especially those spending months in the hospital with sick children.
Five years ago, Candice Pattah and her husband spent months in the hospital during the holidays with their sick daughter McKenzie.
“So we were there for a good two months just praying literally on our hands and knees that you know we were going to take her home,” said Pattah.” So that didn’t happen. I ended up saying goodbye in the hospital.”
The death of McKenzie is a heartbreak Pattah will never fully be able to explain but what she can explain is the comfort she felt after being given a blanket in the hospital.
“Not that we were cold or anything,” Pattah said. “We were just so comforting to just have a blanket, and they would put one on her, they would give one to us, and it was so sweet and comforting. It just felt like a sense of security.”
A year after McKenzie’s passing, Pattah remembered the comforting feeling of that blanket.
“I kept thinking about all the other people in the hospital during that time, and I’m like, ‘What can I do for these people,’” Pattah said.
She launched Kuddle 4 Kenzie asking people to make blankets for others in the hospital.
“Everyone was so affected by it and touched by her life that everyone wanted to give back or do something in honor of her,” Pettah said.
Kuddle 4 Kenzie now hosts a workshop with games, music, Santa Claus and even children writing get-well cards to other children.
“It’s like some kid made this for me that I don’t even know and sending me so much love in the hospital,” Pattah said.
They have donated more than five thousand blankets to hospitals all over Michigan. Mckenzie is still spreading warmth even today, five years after her passing.
“She’s not, like, here, but she’s here,” Pattah said. “And she’s still like working through all these people and spreading all this love through the world. And that means more to us than anything. And that alone is healing.”
Now is your chance to get involved and help patients in the hospital by making them a blanket. You can come alone or bring the whole family.
The Kuddle 4 Kenzie workshop takes place this Friday (Nov. 18) at the St. Thomas Catholic Church on Maple Road in West Bloomfield Township from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. more information can be found here.
