The Elowyn Effect

Elowyn lived life with zest. She flashed her toothy grin and gave a friendly wave to everyone she met.

Her stature was no match for her enormous heart and big love for all people, especially her parents Kevin and Paige, her older sister Maggie, and “her people” — the doctors, nurses, therapists and staff at MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.

“She was full of vivaciousness,” Paige says. “She just had a way about her, and you couldn’t help but smile because she was always smiling. She was so effervescent and happy.”

At Elowyn’s 4-month wellness checkup, Paige raised concerns about symptoms that seemed more serious than the common cold or flu. She requested bloodwork and cultures.

That evening, Elowyn’s pediatrician called, instructing Kevin and Paige to bring Elowyn immediately to the Mary Bridge Children’s emergency department due to critically low blood counts. She was admitted and the next day was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a pediatric leukemia that affects the blood and bone marrow.

Elowyn began chemotherapy on Sept. 4, 2022. She died on Sept. 30, 2023, just over a year after her initial diagnosis. She was nearly 17 months old.

Despite their unimaginable grief, Kevin and Paige vowed to keep the magic of Elowyn’s young life alive.

“We wanted to do something in the month of September, marking both the beginning and end of our journey with Elowyn,” says Paige. “For people who are grieving, finding something constructive to do can bring so much beauty and healing.”

Trauma that inspires hope

A cancer diagnosis affects not only the patient, but also their family. Similarly, the traumas patients endure — the endless pokes, prods, tests, scans, procedures, surgeries, side effects — are often shared by their families.

Kevin says one of his worst memories was watching Elowyn’s naso-jejunal (NJ) tube placement. An NJ tube is a feeding tube placed into a patient’s nose and down into their intestines. Watching that procedure, unable to come to Elowyn’s rescue or do anything to comfort her, is a memory that still haunts him.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve had to watch,” he says. “I just held onto her toe while she screamed. I’m genuinely shaken. I was trying to focus on the reality: this is going to help her keep food down. This is going to help her keep meds down. It’s less likely she’ll lose the tube now. This is going to make her better.”

While Kevin can’t shake his memories from that experience, he wants to replace them with something happier. That’s in part what inspired him and Paige to find something meaningful and constructive to do for Elowyn as they approach the one-year anniversary of her passing.

Their goal is twofold: to honor Elowyn’s life for years to come and to help other patients and families before they experience similarly traumatizing procedures in the hospital.

Paige reached out to Mary Bridge Children’s Child Life Services team, asking if there were opportunities to remember Elowyn by giving back to Mary Bridge Children’s. Julie Hertzog, Child Life manager, mentioned how her department was hoping to have a Kitten Scanner in the new Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.

‘Elowyn would’ve loved this toy’

After learning about the Kitten Scanner, Paige immediately knew it was something she wanted to get behind. For Elowyn. For other patients. For other parents. For her own grief and healing journey.

The Kitten Scanner is a small-scale educational tool from Philips, a manufacturer of commonly used medical imaging equipment found in hospitals, including CT and MRI machines. Using technology, an app and special stuffed animals, the Kitten Scanner is a realistic mini replica of an imaging machine that lets kids learn through play to get a better understanding of the procedures they might face.

“Kids don’t deserve to have horrible diseases, and they definitely don’t deserve to have bad days in the hospital,” Kevin says. “Elowyn was just starting to have fear and trepidation with imaging and procedures in the hospital, and while she would’ve been on the younger end for those who could really benefit from this toy, we know that even if she saw even a little bit of it, it would’ve been helpful.”

“If we could help even one kid to experience less trauma, then mission accomplished,” Paige adds.

Child life specialists at Mary Bridge Children’s use medical play every day in their work to reduce anxiety and normalize what children encounter in the hospital. In addition to being kid-sized, the Kitten Scanner accommodates visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles and is appropriate for kids of all ages.

“I love that Mary Bridge had this tool on their list of things they wanted to have in the new hospital because it really shows how much they care about the whole child — physically, emotionally and experientially,” Paige says. “There are so many positive ramifications. This is exactly the type of tool that would be helpful as a parent to get to practice with your kid. It allows the parent and the patient to experience something more positive.”

The ‘mayor’ of Mary Bridge Children’s

“She was everyone’s baby,” Paige says. “She was just delighted by life, and I don’t know why or how, but the highlight of her day was always when we tossed her into one of the wagons and she got to go see her people on the floor. She’d cackle down the hallway, squealing with delight when she saw the nurses. She was never without a smile.”

Nearly every nurse on the medical-surgical and PICU floors knew — and loved — Elowyn. And she loved them back, big time. At one point in her hospitalization, Elowyn’s nurses knighted her as the “mayor” of Mary Bridge Children’s. Their informal bedside ceremony was complete with a saline syringe for a sword, and nothing was more fitting for the little princess who constantly mesmerized her care team with her charm and bravery.

One of Kevin and Paige’s favorite photos of Elowyn is of her sitting on her hospital bed, listening with a real stethoscope to the heart of her favorite beluga whale stuffed animal.

That kind of play — mimicking her lived experiences — was something that became normal for Elowyn, something she knew how to do because she endured it so many times her young life. It’s the kind of normalcy that shouldn’t ever be normal for a child.

Kevin and Paige hope the Kitten Scanner will play a similar role for other kids as the stethoscope did for Elowyn — bringing familiarity and a sense of normalcy for medical procedures, making them less frightening, and reducing the trauma for both parents and their kids.

“Elowyn had a heart full of love for everyone,” Kevin says. “I want that spirit to live on. I know she would want to give every kid going into a CT (or MRI) scan a big hug, and this is how she can give every kid that hug.”

Keeping Elowyn’s memory alive

Kevin and Paige are raising $40,000 for the Kitten Scanner for the new Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, which is currently under construction and set to open in early 2026. They invite anyone who’d like to honor Elowyn’s life — and spread awareness throughout September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month — to participate in donating toward their cause. Learn more and donate today.

You can also support families like Elowyn’s by supporting the Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation, which provides programs, resources and services for families at Mary Bridge Children’s at no cost.