7-year-old creates gift bags for sick children in Michigan
By AJ Walker
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DETROIT (WWJ) — Jacob Efthemiou is just 7 years old, but he knows what it means to have to be brave.
In 2020, he was diagnosed with the medical condition Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP), which is inflammation of the blood vessels in your skin, joints, intestines, and kidneys.
“I didn’t want to get an IV, so then they said, ‘After you do it, you might get a little prize,'” said Jacob. “And after, I got a Spider-Man toy, so I said, ‘What if other people feel scared?’ So that’s when I made Jacob’s Bravery Box.”
That is when he said he decided to do the same for other children. Jacob and his mom help bring his special bags to children at Michigan hospitals. Jacob’s mom said ever since the very first bag they put together, they knew they were doing something special.
“The first basket, I think when we saw it come together, we thought, ‘Oh, that’s really cute,'” said Danielle Efthemiou. “And knowing that they were going to go to children’s hospital, and hopefully the kids would feel the same way he felt the first time he got a gift bag, that it would maybe take him out of that element for a minute and let him celebrate something I think was really exciting.”
Dr. Rossana Barrocco of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan has seen the effect this simple but powerful gesture has on young patients.
“When we bring them these little bags filled with a teddy bear and some Band-Aids and coloring things, their face just lights up immediately,” said Barrocco. “Their focus is now on what they just received and not on the pain that they might have to go through.
Jacob’s mom said his second-grade class helped to stuff the most recent batch because they were inspired by him and now want to help other kids, too.
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