You may have seen it at your local Walmart or Dairy Queen; a request for a donation to support your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Or maybe you saw someone with a bright yellow hospital band, a campaign started by Jennifer Lopez to raise awareness. You may have heard about it on your college campus, different organizations such as Phi Mu Fraternity taking it on as a national philanthropy or Dance Marathon standing for a long stretch of hours with no sleep. So why do they do it? It’s all For The Kids!

So why wear a hospital band all day, every day? For the kids who have to enter their local hospital. Some may be luckily enough to remove it later that same day, while others may wear it for years. Why stand and exhaust our bodies? For the kids whose bodies feel the same exhaust every day from their illness. Why raise money? So the hospitals are able to have the equipment to make miracles happen, to fund research and to give the kids an environment where they can feel like a kid.

This weekend I had the privilege to visit my local CMN hospital and meet some of the miracle families that the hospital treats. One little girl who was never expected to walk, was running around, laughing up a storm on the playground. Another little boy who did not let the fact he was on breathing support stop him from me telling me a few jokes. And another with cancer who was quite the ladies’ man. What inspired me the most was that no matter what these children had gone through with their illnesses, they were there with a smile on their face, enjoying being a kid.

The hospital itself almost did not seem like a hospital. It was so bright and colorful, with art all over the walls and ceilings. Turns out, children who were admitted to the hospital for long periods of time are able to paint a tile in order to have something they can point to and call their own.

There were 10 stories to this particular building. The more terminal the illness, the higher up you went. Each floor was themed with animals. We started undersea on the first and by the time we reached the 10th floor, we were in the sky with the birds. These were the kids waiting for transplant. The ones who could spend years of their lives fighting, just waiting for a match. I remember walking into the small play area on the floor. In the corner there was a small full body mirror. My heart dropped when I was told that there were children who would see themselves for the first time in that mirror. That from the second they were born, they would spend years on that floor just waiting, and watching themselves grow up in that mirror.

These hospitals are able to give kids extra time with their families through technology and research funded from local support. I support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, for the kids.