The reminiscence by no means left him.
At barely 12, Jared Dearth sat in a hospital room on the youngsters’s flooring of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital clutching a stuffed monkey he’d chosen from a range a hospital employees member introduced by his room. He didn’t know then, however he would carry that little stuffed animal by means of his life in additional methods than one.
“I squeezed the life out of that thing while I was being poked and prodded,” Dearth, from Bridgeport and a 2010 BHS graduate, remembered.
When requested what the expertise of receiving a terrifying analysis does to you as a baby, he pauses.
“It definitely makes you more resilient. Empathetic. You feel like you can handle anything.”
Dearth had been at a WVU basketball camp in Morgantown that summer time when he began seeing double. His eyes went blurry. He felt sick. A coach observed and known as his mother. She took him straight to the most effective facility within the area — J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, now house to WVU Medication Golisano Kids’s. There, he was identified with a uncommon situation that required considered one of solely a handful of neuro-ophthalmologists within the nation.
“I remember telling the doctor to talk in front of me, not outside the room,” he mentioned. “And they did. I got top-of-the-line care at WVU. What I had was rare, so being at a hospital that knew how to diagnose and handle it made all the difference.”
He nonetheless remembers the follow-up name from then-WVU males’s basketball coach John Beilein, who’d run the camp the place he fell ailing, a number of months after he was discharged again house. Beilein had heard concerning the child who left unexpectedly and wished to verify he was on the mend.
There have been different small kindnesses. Just like the coach who first observed him getting sick, phoning to ask how he was doing, and hospital employees who handled him like extra than simply one other affected person. Who listened. “People in West Virginia seem to care. People follow up. I wasn’t just some kid who got sick.”
That sense of care caught with him, as did the monkey toy and, later, a stuffed lizard who grew to become one other hospital companion, one other reminder that individuals round him cared. Now, residing in Denver and serving as vp of the WVU Rocky Mountain Alumni Chapter, Dearth nonetheless thinks concerning the stuffed animals that steadied him by means of worry.
“When you’re a kid, you’re scared and you don’t know what’s happening,” he mentioned. “Having something to hold on to from someone who cares is comforting — at any age.”
So, when he heard concerning the now-formalized Bears and Blankets initiative, an alumni-led venture accumulating stuffed animals and blankets for younger sufferers at WVU Medication Golisano Kids’s, he knew precisely why it mattered. And why he wanted to leap in.
“This shouldn’t be a once-a-year thing,” he mentioned. “Kids are in the hospital year-round. Let’s keep support rolling so they always have what they need.”
Every year, greater than 9,000 youngsters are admitted to WVU Medication Golisano Kids’s Hospital. Many face severe well being challenges in unfamiliar environment. Bears and Blankets helps make these days a bit of softer.
The concept wasn’t new. However the momentum was. It started in Houston, Texas, with Heather Dishman, president of the Lone Star Chapter of the WVU Alumni Affiliation. In 2016, she was searching for a option to give again to Morgantown that any alum might get behind.
“I wanted something one-size-fits-all,” she mentioned. “Something any alum could buy, and any child could use.”
Blankets and bears had been easy, common, and comforting. That fall, her chapter held 2 watch-party collections and gathered greater than 100 gadgets.
The subsequent yr introduced floods and hurricanes, however in 2018, the chapter delivered over 250 bears and blankets to WVU Medication Golisano Kids’s, rolling carts from room to room so children might select their favourite.
“Watching their faces light up was unforgettable,” Dishman mentioned. “It’s a small gesture for families, but it lets kids be kids in a hard moment.”
Phrase unfold shortly by means of the alumni community. In 2024, Dishman introduced this system on the Alumni Leaders Institute and, by the top of the occasion, different chapters had been asking learn how to be part of.
A kind of leaders was Loren Lazear, president of the Emerald Coast Alumni Chapter in Florida. A longtime chapter volunteer, he acknowledged the potential. He’d launched the chapter in 2020 after transferring to Florida and discovering, regardless of loads of Mountaineers within the space, a scarcity of organized group. Lazear mentioned Bears and Blankets has served as a rallying level for his gold-and-blue household within the Sunshine State.
Final yr, Emerald Coast donated 210 of the 542 complete gadgets collected nationwide. This yr, they’ve already delivered 372 bears and blankets and have raised one other $2,000 to purchase extra.
“My truck bed and back seat were full when I traveled back for the Pitt and Utah football games,” mentioned Lazear, laughing. They’re already blowing previous their objectives and aiming larger.
The joy is contagious. Chapters from coast to coast have joined in, some re-engaging after years of quiet.
“Chapters are revitalizing because of this program,” Lazear mentioned. “It’s about kids. Your heart goes out to them. And it’s easy and affordable for people to participate.”
Dearth agrees. He’s utilizing game-watches and social media posts to maintain momentum constructing.
“I’d rather have a hundred people give 10 dollars than one person give a lot,” he mentioned. “The strength is in how many people we connect.”
And that’s the hidden energy of the venture: it’s not solely serving to youngsters in ache or worry, but in addition re-energizing alumni chapters and reminding Mountaineers in every single place what it feels prefer to be a part of a group.
At WVU Medication Golisano Kids’s, the impression is felt daily.
“We still hear from patients who kept their blanket or stuffed animal for years,” mentioned Erin Blake, affiliate director of group relations. “Some sleep with them as teenagers.”
Dad and mom inform her their children nonetheless carry the identical bear they obtained throughout a hospital keep years in the past.
“A soft toy or blanket can calm a scary situation and make it feel a little more normal,” she mentioned. “Some kids arrive by ambulance or helicopter without their favorite toy. This helps.”
Baby life specialists (professionals who clarify procedures and use play to ease anxiousness) are a part of what makes WVU Medication Golisano Kids’s distinctive. “We’re lucky to have a child life program,” Blake mentioned. “It’s supported through fundraising. Not every hospital can offer that.”
The identical generosity that funds these roles now retains the cabinets stocked with consolation gadgets. Blake mentioned it’s unimaginable to see alumni throughout the nation ensuring each youngster who comes by means of their doorways has one thing to carry.
Dearth seems to be at it as a full-circle second. It’s proof that empathy can ripple outward. “We’re talking about the next generation,” he mentioned. “These are kids with their whole lives ahead of them. WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s gave me great care when I needed it. Giving back just feels right.”
The motion retains rising. Chapter by chapter, bear by bear, second by second. And thru all of it, the Mountaineer spirit that defines us all continues to bind folks collectively: one alum remembering his personal hospital keep, one chapter filling a pickup truck, one youngster hugging a brand new bear tight.
