Hope comes in many forms. For Olivia Richmond, she’s hoping it comes in the form of a homemade care package.
A high school senior in our Cincinnati market, Olivia is working on her senior capstone project. She chose to give back to our blood cancer center in the form of care packages for our patients receiving both inpatient and outpatient treatment for blood cancers.
However, the project had a more personal intention for Olivia. She donated the care packages in memory of someone close to her – her grandfather, David Gregory.
David was a patient receiving treatment at The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health Cincinnati Cancer and Cellular Therapy Center in 2023 for acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, a blood cancer that affects the bone marrow and blood. He received treatment at the Blood Cancer Center for five weeks before losing his cancer battle.
In her grandfather’s memory, Olivia wanted to comfort cancer patients currently in treatment. She researched what products and items would be most useful to them and then put together a wish list for her family and friends to purchase from. These included snacks, an activity book, a mini fan, a blanket, a hat, cooling towels, crossword puzzle books, disinfecting wipes, socks and more.
Olivia also made sure her care packages had a personal touch. She organized crafts with friends and family, such as painting rocks with encouraging words and assembling a homemade coloring book. She involved the children at a Vacation Bible School class she volunteered with, leading an activity where the kids colored dragonfly pictures. She also enlisted her family to help her assemble the packages.
“Olivia doing this capstone project really allowed us to think about him, rally around him and be together,” Jocelyn Gregory, Olivia’s mother, says. “There are so many things that we did together that she organized and put together because of him.”
Olivia’s community truly came through – out of the 20 care packages she originally organized, 51 families and individuals donated items through her wish list, helping Olivia to donate 30 care packages to our patients.
And every care package included a note: “A care package from Poppy,” what she called her grandfather.
“I wanted to do this in memory of him and in honor of him,” Olivia shares. “I want to show other patients that there’s hope and light in the future.”
Olivia, her brother and her mother were very close to David and felt his loss deeply. Jocelyn says that while it was very difficult to lose him, they were comforted by the “exceptional care” he received while he was being treated.
“We loved the care and the treatment that he got,” Jocelyn adds, “We knew that he was very well cared for here when we were home.”
Olivia’s care packages made a difference to at least one patient who received one. About a week after she delivered them, one grateful patient sent Olivia’s high school principal a letter thanking Olivia for the care package and confirmed the items she included were indeed helpful to them during their treatment.
We appreciate your caring and giving spirit, Olivia! Thank you for honoring your grandfather’s memory by helping our patients as they undergo their treatment.
Learn more about how you can volunteer with us as well as our oncology services at Mercy Health.
