AFTER RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY on and off for more than a year and two brief periods of remission, Sonia Su’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma had returned. She and her doctors decided to try CAR T-cell therapy, a treatment that uses a person’s own genetically engineered immune cells to attack cancer cells.
With her energy at an all-time low, Su walked into her hospital room before the CAR T-cell infusion and found a surprise care package waiting on her bed. Someone who had completed treatment had provided toiletries and snacks, plus a note of encouragement. “I just felt really motivated to keep going,” Su says. Just days shy of her 26th birthday in March 2019, Su underwent the procedure, and her disease has been in remission ever since.
When making a care package for someone going through cancer treatment, take the time to include a handwritten card. This personal touch is often what the recipient will remember the most, says Sonia Su, the executive director of Kits to Heart. “The most important thing is to just make sure it comes from the heart,” she says.
Inspired that a stranger had taken the time to lift her spirits, Su founded a nonprofit called Kits to Heart that assembles and delivers care packages to more than 40 hospitals in the Washington, D.C., area. The Clarksville, Maryland-based organization also ships customizable care packages to people with cancer and their caregivers nationwide. Since May 2020, the organization has distributed more than 12,000 care kits.
Each box contains practical items, like a toothbrush, a reusable water bottle and electrolyte drink mixes, along with resources to help guide people through treatment. Additionally, all kits come with a handwritten note from a Kits to Heart volunteer and handmade art, such as an origami crane, a crochet bag or a painted rock. Su says the art pieces serve as reminders of the love and support patients have beyond the hospital walls.
Care packages should contain items that make patients’ daily lives easier.
For people receiving cancer treatment, even seemingly small gifts can have a big impact. Sonia Su, the executive director of Kits to Heart, advises people to fill care packages with tangible items that make patients’ day-to-day lives easier—such as skin care products, toiletries or a gift card for a food delivery service—so they can focus on their health. “It really doesn’t take much to make a difference in someone’s life,” she says.
After experiencing the difficulty of treatment firsthand, Su hopes the care packages motivate patients to continue treatment. “It just provides that extra light to an otherwise very dark journey,” she says.
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