GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — When Ruby Sheneman was four years old, she had a burn accident after becoming trapped between a running treadmill and a wall.
"She had to have a pretty major skin graft on her leg," said her mom, Cydney Sheneman, "It was in and out of the burn clinic and in the outpatient for a little over a month."
Being in a hospital can be scary for children. Ruby, however, remembers a small act that helped ease that fear during her hospital stay.
"Before surgery, on the mask used for anesthesia, because it smells weird and plasticky, they have Chapstick," said Cydney, "And the kids can pick their favorite scent and rub it on. So, when they put it on, it doesn’t have such a sterile smell."
"It helped me get through Helen DeVos, like, the scary parts," said Ruby.
Now, five years after her accident and recovery, Ruby wanted to do something to commemorate it. She wanted to give back.
Remembering how the lip balm made her smile, she began collecting lip balm tubes from her community for the hospital.
"I kind of wanted to give a thank you to them," said Ruby.
Her mom put a video of her collection idea on social media, set up a donation site, and the lip balm began rolling in.
They initially set a goal of 500 tubes to donate. They received 706.
"It was cool to see the tub as it was empty just getting filled up a lot," said Ruby.
Cydney said the tub "smelled like middle school."
They donated the final collection to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital to give to other children who have to have surgery.
"It's cool to see Ruby take initiative and do something on her own," said Cydney, "That little part of Ruby has done will help other kids who have to go through scary surgery."
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