Seven-year-old’s Bravery Boxes help Children’s Hospital of Michigan patients cope

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — A 7-year-old’s dream of making “Bravery Boxes” and delivering them to Children’s Hospital of Michigan patients — just like what was done for him during difficult times — came true.

Jacob Efthemiou, a Shelby Township boy, was diagnosed in 2020 with Henoch-Schonlein purpura, or HSP, which is inflammation of the blood vessels in one’s skin, joints, intestines and kidneys, after a series of doctors’ office visits and, eventually, a referral to Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

Now recovered, he also remembers the kindness of the doctors, nurses, technicians and other hospital staff at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and the little toys they gave him to help him through that traumatizing experience.

To pay that kindness forward, Jacob created and donated 125 gift bags Jan. 22 that he stored in a large box called “Jacob’s Bravery Box.” Children’s Hospital of Michigan staff gives the bags to patients facing their own medical challenges. The patients are seen in Detroit and at other Children’s Hospital of Michigan pediatric medical offices across the metro Detroit area.

This is the third year Jacob has made bags. He started with 25 gift bags when he was 5 and delivered them to his favorite Children’s Hospital of Michigan nephrology nurse, Nancy Hanes, and pediatric nephrologist Dr. Rossana Baracco, who is the director of the pediatric nephrology fellowship program at the hospital

This year, Jacob shopped and his second-grade classmates at Utica’s Switzer Elementary School formed an assembly line to produce dozens of boxes to share with young children facing medical issues of their own.

On Jan. 22, the gift bags were at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Specialty Center on Beaubien Street in Detroit, outpatient medical offices and an infusion center across the street from the main hospital.

Danielle Efthemiou, Jacob’s mom, said her son had said that he wanted to do 100 bags and have his friends help.

“The kids understand what it’s like to help in any way, and this can make kids feel better. If there’s one kid that the process is a little less scary for, it’s worth it,” Danielle Efthemiou said.

Jacob said during a media event that when he got an IV, the medical personnel gave him a Spider-Man toy.

“They said I would get a toy, so I thought, ‘I should do this.’ I got a toy and I was happy, so I thought I wanted to give out toys to make other people happy,” Jacob said.

Many of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan patients whom Baracco works with as a kidney doctor experience regular IVs, biopsies, ultrasounds and imaging, blood draws and other medical procedures that can be scary for them.

“The team at Children’s Hospital of Michigan are always conscious of this, providing everything from hugs to toys to diversions to help them. We always strive to care for our patients both physically and emotionally,” Baracco said in a press release.

Danielle Efthemiou said her family is thankful that they ended up at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. The hospital had a really good team that worked with Jacob and understood how scary things could be for a small child.

She said being a part of delivering the boxes, and her son being part of it, was awesome. Even though he wasn’t able to physically give the bags to the patients, he gave them to Hanes and Baracco, and they explained how they would give them out to the kids who need them.

“He has seen through social media showing the children receiving them. It’s just such a good lesson on empathy and understanding in humanity. He remembers when he was getting treatment and that’s what made him want to do his own. Everyone always wanted to see what he included in the bags this year. This year he changed it up; blue pandas and pink pandas for girls,” she said.