Dressed as the blue-striped Dory from "Finding Nemo," 9-year-old Savannah Henderson celebrated her fourth consecutive Halloween at Duke Children's Hospital.
Savannah has had 30 brain surgeries due to infections. Her two-year-old sister, dressed as Nemo from the movie, had open heart surgery last month.
“You can see, she’s busting out of the seams, she’s very excited," said her mother Aimee Henderson. "It’s nice to have a distraction. They do a good job here, making it special for the kids."
Duke Children's Hospital—through the Child and Adolescent Life Program—holds an annual Halloween parade and festival each Oct. 31. This year marked the 19th anniversary of the program where children and staff members dress in costumes ranging from policemen to princesses.
The Halloween party, like other Child and Adolescent Life Program events aim to give hospitalized children the same exposure to childhood experiences in a home-away-from-home experience. The kids—carrying trick-or-treat bags to receive toys at designated stations—walked the hallways of the hospital to show off their outfits to onlooking parents and staff.
“[The program's goal] is helping normalize the hospital environment," said Child Life specialist Judy Panella. "They don’t have a choice about being here on Halloween. But what can we do to make it as much like a trick-or-treating experience that they would have around the neighborhood?”
The national chain store Spirit Halloween donates 10 percent of local proceeds to Duke Children’s Hospital after the Halloween season. The Child and Adolescent Life Program uses these funds to purchase costumes for all sizes and ages. This year the program gave costumes to 60 kids, including the children who were either in isolation or not well enough to leave their rooms, but still wanted to celebrate Halloween.
A total of 24 patients and their siblings participated in the parade. As well as trick-or-treating, the kids enjoyed activities including pin the spider on the web, listening to spooky music and crafts including pumpkin painting.
Savannah was most enthusiastic about her blue outfit with flippers, stating that costumes were her favorite part of Halloween. In some of her past stays at the Children's Hospital, she had been unable to leave her room for the festivities, but this year—after only being hospitalized a week before the Oct. 31 holiday—she was well enough to participate in the parade and pumpkin decorating.
But no joy from the activities could outweigh her sheer love of dressing as a character from her favorite movie.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,” Savannah said, quoting "Finding Nemo."
Her mother said holidays are an especially difficult time to have children hospitalized, noting that their family lives in Apex, North Carolina, which is about a 30-minute drive from Durham.
“We don’t live too far, but it’s just far enough that it makes it hard on the family when we’re in the hospital this much. These little things make a big difference,” Henderson said.
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