Capes For Courage

When I was diagnosed with Chrondroblastic Osteosarcoma in 2006, I began the life-changing battle towards survivorship. From the beginning, I felt like I needed to tap in to my inner "Super Hero." To do this, I donned a cape at each of my hospital visits in order to radiate courage and confidence. I realized that not only did the cape serve to bolster my own spirits and resolve, it cheered those around me as well. It was common for fellow patients to greet me with a smile and a few words of encouragement as I made my way through the halls. In my oncologist's office, I was known as "the girl with the cape" and my phlebotomist never knew my real name, calling me only "Super Girl." As I enter my new life as a cancer survivor, I long to reach out and help others through their experience with serious illness. As my cape became such an important coping device for me throughout my treatment, I came up with a plan to put my love of sewing to use creating capes for children in the local hospitals where I live. The mission has grown since this one-woman volunteer effort I began in 2010, to our having achieved incorporation and 501(c)3 status in June of 2018! We depend on a network of hundreds of sewing volunteers all across the country and have provided thousands of capes to men, women and children faced with serious illnesses. We proudly partner with several national organizations and multiple hospital networks. We take part in several mass distribution events each year and also provide custom-ordered capes, which we ship anywhere in the U.S.