Kansas City boy beats cancer, makes massive toy donation to Children’s Mercy

By SAVANNAH RUDICEL

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — Children’s Mercy Hospital is sorting through hundreds of donations from one of its youngest donors.

Seven-year-old Tripp Hughes raised enough money to fill a U-Haul truck full of toys.

“The people that are doing that are truly very nice and they just deserve to have something nice happen to them,” Tripp said.

Tripp is a former patient of Children’s Mercy. He recently had his last chemotherapy treatment and overcame a battle with pre B-cell near-haploid acute lymphoblastic lymphoma.

“It’s just been a rollercoaster,” he said. “Every single pill I’ve been taking, every single day for two-and-a-half years.”

Tripp’s mother, Krista Hughes, said the family was determined to face the challenge head-on and with positivity. They had physical and emotional help from the hospital staff.

“His team is just amazing. We’re so happy to have Children’s Mercy here,” she said. “Every single person you come into contact with helps the process feel ok.”

Krista Hughes said the first eight months were the most challenging, but Tripp never lost his personality.

“He’s really impressed all of his doctors,” she said. “His energy was always sky high, positive mood, never really let it affect him for the age that he is. He was always very mature for everything he was going through.”

When Tripp wanted to start a toy drive to celebrate the end of his treatments, Krista and the family weren’t surprised.

“He just amazes us every day and he’s just got a great big heart and we’re so proud of him,” she said.

Tripp’s Toy Drive began as a few posts on social media, then it grew to involve benefit concerts and viral TikTok videos.

“This has just exceeded our expectations. We had no idea it was going to get this big,” Krista Hughes said.

Tripp and his mom went on countless shopping excursions with the monetary donations to get the games, stuffed animals and coloring books he liked to play with during his long hospital stays. He said he loved picking out items other kids would love.

“They only have about 80 blankets and there’s lots of kids,” he said. “Some of the kids don’t enjoy them because they’re not charactered so we’re getting some with clouds and Batman and all sorts of different blankets and toys.”

Children’s Mercy staff said their supplies are running extra low. Summers are slow for donations and almost every toy is single use now because of COVID-19 safety precautions. They say Tripp’s gift couldn’t have come at a better time.

“It’s kind of like Christmas in July here at the hospital,” said Gregg Rosenboom, In-kind Giving Coordinator for Children’s Mercy.

Rosenboom said not every donation has to be a box truck full of toys, any amount helps. They encourage all kids to get involved in community service however they can.

“He just went through a really tough time in his life and his thought was, ‘how can I give back and help other kids going through tough things?’ That’s awesome,” Rosenboom said.

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