When you're a kid, birthdays generally mean only one thing: presents.
That makes Abby Grubbs' 10th birthday, which she celebrated last Friday, all the more remarkable. There were presents, sure, but they weren't for her. Instead, Grubbs asked attendees to bring Lego sets, which she then handed out to sick kids at Lutheran Children’s Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Abby knows a thing or two about long, boring stints in the hospital, having recently wrapped up two and a half years of treatment for leukemia herself, and she wanted to help cheer up kids who were experiencing the same ordeal.
"I know what it’s like being in the hospital with nothing to do ... so I wanted to give them [Legos],” the 10-year-old explained to WANE.
She hopes the Lego sets will inspire the kids to persevere, her message being, "I know it’s tough, but you’re going to make it and it’s okay if it hurts because the hurt will go away.”
Abby and her mom, Sherry Grubbs, also procured Lego sets through the Heroes Foundation's Team Joey program, a nonprofit that specializes in supplying the iconic plastic bricks to pediatric cancer patients. Abby, as well as some local actors dressed as characters from "The Little Mermaid," helped Team Joey deliver some of the Legos last week.
According to the "Today" show, Abby also requested that other money that would have been spent on birthday gifts be donated instead to two charities: Kate's Kart, which gives free books to kids in the hospital, and Energized by Ebony, which provides crafts and activity bags.
