November is always a cause for celebration for seven-year-old Fireside Elementary School second-grader Baylee Nichols: it’s the annual anniversary of the bone marrow transplant that saved her life after being diagnosed at birth with a rare form of leukemia. Her brother, nine-year-old Fireside fourth-grader Brody, was her bone marrow donor.
This November is a milestone because it marks the five-year anniversary of her transplant. Fireside students are celebrating it in a big way: in partnership with Explorer Middle School, they’re conducting a month-long toy drive to collect new, unwrapped toys for Phoenix Children’s Hospital patients. The drive is being called Baylee’s Wish in her honor.
Baylee Nichols is celebrating the five-year anniversary of her transplant by collecting new toys for children at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Photo courtesy of 3TV News
This isn’t the first time Baylee has been involved in a toy drive for Phoenix Children’s Hospital. During her birthday month of August, her family collected 1,500 toys after she told her mom that rather than getting birthday gifts she wanted to give toys to the sick children at the hospital.
Baylee recently won an Am Trust Bank Caring Kid Award and was featured on the Channel 15 program Sonoran Living Live.
The public can contribute to Baylee’s Wish by sending a check or gift card to Baylee’s Wish, 5162 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix, AZ 85043.
To interview Baylee and students running the toy drive or to shoot video or photos of the toy donation to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, contact Carol Herz/602-449-2009.
The Paradise Valley Unified School District serves more than 32,000 elementary, middle and high school students in 44 schools in northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale. The district extends from 7th Avenue to Pima Road, and Northern Avenue to Jomax Road. The district has been recognized nationally for its outstanding educational programs and for its low cost in administering those programs. PV Schools celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013.
