Anna's Pals Inc

Anna’s Pals will offer an essential respite from the clinical environment for immunocompromised, pediatric patients and their families, allowing them the opportunity to breath fresh ocean air and recharge, while connecting with other families who have had similar experiences, and prepare for the difficult next step ahead, whatever that may be.

Pediatric patients in the greater Boston area receive transplants, chemotherapy and other medications that suppress their immune system. Hundreds of children each year must isolate from the outside world due to the fragility of their health, which adds significant mental stress to their already fatigued body.

In July 2013, just before she began high school, Anna Jerome was diagnosed with AML, an aggressive form of Leukemia. Anna spent six months hospitalized at Boston Children’s, bolstered by constant visits from friends and family, before she went into remission. The relief was short-lived: Anna soon relapsed, and underwent a bone marrow transplant. That’s when her battle changed. She was isolated and unable to have visitors due to the loss of her immune system and her inability to fight infection.

Anna missed her family and friends, and the loneliness had a tremendously negative effect on her. It also took a toll on the entire family, requiring all to isolate to keep her safe. Anna craved the beach and the family desperately needed an opportunity to escape, renew, and try to forget that Anna was sick, even if for a little while. But unfortunately for Anna, as for the thousands of children who receive a bone marrow transplant each year, her immunocompromised status meant that a beach recharge was out of the question.

After a courageous 15-month battle, most of it spent hospitalized, Anna lost her fight with cancer in October of 2014. As this experience demonstrated, there is no safe place for family and friends to gather with fragile, immunocompromised patients like Anna.

“Kids like Anna are required to spend countless days and nights in the hospital. When they are not in the hospital, they must still comply with many restrictions to minimize their risk of serious infections and complications. This is an extremely isolating experience for patients, siblings and parents. Exposures that are routine for others, such as to individuals outside of their immediate family, to mold in the physical environment, to contaminants in food, have the potential to be life-threatening. The requirements are not always obvious or intuitive. It is simply not possible to expect any setting that is not expressly designed or modified for this purpose to maintain the required level of cleanliness and control.” Barbara Degar, MD Attending Physician Department of Pediatric Oncology, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School

Anna’s Pals has located a beach house destination for these families in the Boston area, allowing them to safely gather and connect with others who have shared experiences. A retired schoolhouse has been put up for bid in a seaside Cape Cod town. Anna’s Pals seeks to repurpose the building creating a community of wheelchair accessible beach cottages; they could be would be constructed of mold and mildew resistant materials, have air filtration systems, be staffed with nurses, and maintain the cleanliness requirements that are currently only met in a hospital or clinical setting. Patients and their families can breathe fresh air, gather, and rest as they prepare for the fight of their lives. 

It has been said that BEACH is an acronym for the Best Escape Anyone Can Have. These families will have the opportunity to enjoy one another, create memories and photographs that will last forever. The patient will leave refreshed and recharged, ready to face what lies ahead.

Anna’s Pals have maintained a dedication to improving the lives of hospitalized children and their families and have become an effective and respected supporter of immunocompromised, pediatric patients. Anna’s Pals has grown from an organization that was responsible for some programs at Boston Children’s Hospital to one that has expanded its work to other area hospitals. Anna’s Pals have provided meals, snacks, toys, games and other bedside distractions to children with long term hospitalizations due to cancer treatment. We are currently working on The Beach House Complex project, which will allow us to expand on, and improve our ability to support these fragile patients and their families. Due to the suppression of the immune system, these children are kept away from society, This means they cannot go to school, playdates, birthday parties and other activities most children take for granted. The beach complex will offer an outing that would not be possible otherwise.

Anna's Pals Inc is a Charity participating in the Taylor Swift Ticket Raffle presented by Mildred's Dream Foundation a Prize Raffle event, presented by FMP Productions.