One key fact

88.5% of children report feeling anxiety during hospitalization. Studies of children aged 0–5 have shown that nearly 88.5% are diagnosed with Anxiety in Hospitalized Children due to the stressful nature of the clinical environment.

What we do

• Coordinate hospital visits (with permission) to provide fun, engaging days for pediatric patients
• Bring toys, books, songs, and interactive activities
• Write custom songs and short stories for each child based on their journey, personality, and dreams
• Record and preserve these creations as keepsakes for families
• Raise awareness about chronic and life-threatening childhood conditions
• Build student-led chapters to expand impact nationwide

What we are not

• We are not a wish-granting organization like Make-A-Wish Foundation.
• We do not replace clinical child life services.
• We partner with hospitals and child life departments to create uplifting experiences.

Founder’s Statement

When I was 7, I fell unconscious on a trip to the hospital for what we thought was simply a really bad flu, and woke up days later with a tube in my throat and beeping machines surrounding me. I was told I’d had pneumonia in both lungs, and it had progressed unchecked, due to a misdiagnosis, leading to multi-organ failure.

I was in the ICU for weeks, in the hospital for months, and it was a harrowing experience for not only me, but my family. It still feels surreal whenever I think about it, that I was this close to dying, but am now alive, happy, and grateful.

Years later, my memories of the hospital, which fuel my ambition and desire to be a pediatrician, seem…incomplete. Because, in truth, my memories are limited to IVs, blood transfusions, multiple surgeries, and the pain of my parents, who had to silently watch their child go through this.

But I don’t remember my strength.

I don’t remember my bravery.

I know people visited. My parents’ friends. My second-grade teacher. But I was often asleep. And even when I was awake, I felt alone. Unheard. Over time, my story became something reduced — a dramatic anecdote for a college essay, or a traumatic tale told to new friends. My resilience was something that felt too painful to acknowledge.

But that shouldn't be true. I was a child who went through an experience that could have broken me, yet I came out stronger. I'm resilient, not a miracle to be whispered about. Not a tragedy to be simplified. I am proof of my strength.

And so is every child living through a chronic or life-threatening illness.

Their stories deserve to be remembered not only for the pain but for the courage that they display, each and every day in the hospital. For the story that they have to share, because it is a beautiful, inspiring keepsake that deserves to be shared, long after their pain subsides, long after a new chapter starts in their lives.

That’s why I created The Keepsake Initiative.

We make personal short stories, poems, and songs, custom-made for every child, in order to celebrate their resilience and bravery. Every family deserves to remember their struggle with something positive, and we aim to give them this gift. The gift of a keepsake, that shifts their narrative from pain to resilience.

Beyond keepsakes, our team brings crafts, books, toys, music, and art into hospital rooms. We aim to give children something simple yet powerful: a moment of joy. A moment that feels golden, even under the steady, bright, fluorescent lights, surrounded by beeping machines.

We cannot cure illness.

But we can ease loneliness.

We can honor bravery.

We can create something that lasts.

And sometimes, that is enough.