SAN DIEGO — Rady Children’s Hospital is getting some monster help for its hopeful resident canine therapy program.
On Monday, the Black Pearl Monster Truck rolled in and parked in front of the hospital and brought some much-needed smiles to young patients.
The tubes, cords and the sounds of the machines seemed to fade away as kids got up close to the truck.
It’s these types of patient experiences that are making a big impact at Rady Children’s Hospital.
“He was scheduled for chemo today so he was not happy on his way over here and then we drove up to get to the parking lot and he saw this and it totally changed his mood,” said Elizabeth Butler.
Her young son is fighting Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and after he bravely finishes a chemo treatment, medicine or procedure he gets a monster truck.
“It’s these types of things that make it bearable,” said Butler.
Rady Children’s wants to amplify that experience by having its own full-time resident canine therapy program that will be implemented in a patient’s treatment plan.
“The hospital can be a scary place and having a resident canine therapy program means that you can send your child to a treatment for dialysis or cancer treatments. It makes it a little easier knowing they have a resident canine that is medically trained to be responsive to whatever that child needs,” said Stephanie Kanaski, Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation.
CBS 8 is Working FUR Kids and partnering with Rady Children’s to help fundraise for this expensive program.
The goal is to start with three resident canines who will be paired with a child life specialist, they go through extensive training and are highly skilled to provide comfort, distraction or help a patient with their physical therapy in a pediatric hospital setting.
“It’s so critical that we have those moments in time for them to really experience,” said Kanaski.
Rady Children’s is getting some monster help in donations today.
“We are matching up to $10,000 today to launch this program, everyone, it’s needed,” said Kari Rich from Strut Cares.
The global non-profit connects individuals to causes they are passionate about and sponsors the Black Pearl. They are also supporting the need for a resident canine therapy program at Rady Children’s Hospital.
“Strut Cares is about amplifying giving and absolutely seeing this and having a tail that can wag and bringing a smile, it’s all about that,” said Rich.
Black Pearl driver, Cole Venard, knows as an amputee, the challenges patients may face but says anything is possible, it just takes a generous community to make a monster impact.
“We can all come together to help someone to be little closer to normal,” said Venard.
Working Fur Kids is an effort to help raise funds in collaboration with the public, to start a Resident Canine Therapy Program at Rady Children’s here in San Diego. Please consider making a monetary donation to kickstart this essential program that will help ease the pain and suffering of children who are patients at Rady Children’s Hospital, California’s largest non-profit children’s hospital.
On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., CBS 8 will hold a 14-hour "Working Fur Kids" Giveathon, encouraging donations from the community to help raise much-needed funds to launch a Resident Canine Therapy Program to help children through extremely difficult challenges.
Watch live coverage all day starting at 5 a.m. on CBS 8 or CBS8+ to find out more about the program and hear from guests. Volunteers will be at the station answering phones for donations.
WATCH: Monster Truck helping to bring resident canine Therapy program to Rady Children’s San Diego