Farrah Welsh and her husband, Teddy, have first-hand knowledge of the expert care and compassion children at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital receive. Two years ago, their daughter, Everly, had her first seizure, and after months of testing, the diagnosis was leukodystrophy, a rare and incurable brain disease. Despite the poor prognosis, Welsh has continued to be impressed by how the staff tries to make Sandy Springs hospital as homey as possible.
“The first time we spent two weeks there, and I was freaking out, but they loved on her so much,” said Welsh. “They brought in clowns. People came to sing to her. It made you feel more at peace, that you were really being taken care of. Now when we go there, people know her name and ask us how we’re doing.”
The family showed their appreciation by donating materials to the kids’ art room and movies for the young patients to watch. But last year, when Everly turned 3, they opted to launch a toy drive rather than hosting a birthday party. That event collected about 100 toys.
Their second drive was held a few weeks ago, and despite a pandemic, the results surpassed their expectations.
“We had more than triple the number of toys we had last year,” said Welsh. “The volunteers who were counting them stopped at 500. One lady even got a little emotional and told us there haven’t been as many donations this year because of COVID.”
The hospital has a giant storage cage for donations of this sort, and the Welshes filled it.
“We took Everly to the store, and she picked out two buggies full of toys,” said Welsh. “Her hot picks were surprise toys with things stuffed inside and anything with dinosaurs.”
Friends and family chipped in with financial contributions, picking items from an Amazon wish list and having them sent to the Welshes’ home in Merriweather County, about two hours from the hospital.
“We had baby toys, toddler toys, arts and crafts, and card games for the older kids and teenagers,” said Welsh. “We wanted to give back to Scottish Rite and to find ways to raise awareness and help find a cure. We’re always looking for ways to get the word out, and we hope more people will donate to causes doing the research so no other kids have to go through this.”
Each Sunday we write about a deserving person or charity events such as fun-runs, volunteer projects and other community gatherings that benefit a good cause. To submit a story for us to cover, email us at ajc.doinggood@gmail.com.
