Splash of Red refocuses attention
Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Garland County Circle of Friends hosted the 16th annual Splash of Red event at Hot Springs Memorial Field Friday evening to refocus attention on “children champions” who are treated through the hospital.
Four “children champions” known as the “Quad Squad” — Haley Gloria, Kaden Peebles and Tenna and Adeline White — shared the stories of how their sicknesses were cured during their stays at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Over 400 attendees of the 16th annual Splash of Red Event enjoyed
food and live music, and joined in a silent auction to benefit the hospital, after listening to the champions’ stories.
Peebles, 20, a bone and leukemia cancer survivor and Circle of Friends ambassador, shared her battle to becoming cancer-free through Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
“After 17 rounds of chemo and 31 days of radiation, I was able to finish school and graduate with my high school class in remission. Upon a second diagnosis, I developed a fungal infection. Fortunately thanks to God and Arkansas Children’s hospital I was able to fight the fungus and am in remission for both of my cancers,” she said.
Peebles said she would not be here without the people that attend events like Splash of Red.
Another champion, White, said her favorite aspect of Arkansas Children’s is “Camp WannaPlay” which is an area in the hospital that allows children to express themselves through art projects. She said it helped her enjoy her stay in the hospital.
Glenda Dunn, with Garland County Circle of Friends, said she every year they strive for new themes and hopes, and this year hones in on the children, with large banner photos of local children in the hospital hung throughout the airport hanger where Friday’s event was held.
“This is all about the kids; we love hearing stories like Kaden’s who has over 2,000 ‘beads of courage’ where each bead represents the different surgeries and procedures she’s had done through the hospital. I hope every relaxes and remembers to take it back to the kids,” Dunn said.
Jacqueline Gibson, children’s hospital’s development officer, said Splash of Red highlights the people who care for not only the physical needs of children, but their mental and emotional health too.
“We strive to make sure these kids are receiving the best health care they possibly can. Right now Arkansas is ranked 46th in the nation for child health care and well-being, so we are really trying to build up and get out of that lower percentile,” she said.
Gibson mentioned the recent children’s hospital opening in Springdale, and said the new hospital hopes to aid in the effort to improve Arkansas’ focus on children’s health. She said ultimately the children are the reason that over 30 members with Circle of Friends invest hours of labor into the night.
“I love that we had children here to speak tonight. They can give a whole different viewpoint than administrators. We can learn from their experiences, even if their experience is great we can build on that and if it’s bad we hope to fix it,” Gibson said.