By Amira Van Leeuwen
DRIPPING SPRINGS — Geoff Pastrick was diagnosed with Stage 4 Burkitt’s Lymphoma, an aggressive blood cancer, in February 2019 and passed away in May 2020. But after his diagnosis, family discussions regarding treatments, clinic visits and hospital stays, Primed 2 Fight Foundation was born.
The local nonprofit organization's mission is to bring joy and encouragement to pediatric cancer patients and their families through My Chemo Fairy® Gift Sets. The organization is a collaborative effort between Pastrick’s sister Stephanie Parker, her husband Bryan Parker, Pastrick and his wife, Heather.
Parker would go to the hospital every three weeks to help him with his chemotherapy. Parker said she used to give her brother goodie bags with snacks every chemo session and one day, her sister-in-law was walking down the staircase and said, “It looks like the chemo fairy came.”
“We kind of ran with that idea,” Parker said.
My Chemo Fairy® Gift Sets include a boy or girl fairy, a storybook and a ‘You Got This!’ bag filled with different treats. The book, authored by Parker, is a story of her and her brother.
“It’s a story about a little girl who realizes her brother has cancer and so she wants to do something special for him,” Parker said.
Parker said that Chemo Fairies come to visit the children during their chemotherapy treatment, radiation or other treatments and then go back to the Chemo Fairy Garden until the next treatment.
The ‘You Got This!’ bags have a monthly theme sticker placed on the front of the bag with sweet and salty snacks. Primed 2 Fight donates the gift sets to clinics and hospitals throughout the United States.
Primed 2 Fight donates 400-500 gift bags to different cancer clinics monthly.
Throughout the month of September, six businesses including Twisted ‘X’ Brewery, Frios Gourmet Pops, Drip Nutrition and JP-8 Coffee will sell different products with a portion of the proceeds that will go back to Primed 2 Fight.
Frios Gourmet Pops will be selling pineapple mango popsicles, and JP-8 coffee is selling a Gold Lotus all-natural plant-based energy drink. Drip Nutrition is selling a peach mango lemonade.
On Sept. 24, Primed 2 Fight is hosting a Fight Like a Kid Fest at Twisted ‘X’ Brewery from noon. to 5 p.m. as a way to rally the community about Childhood Cancer Awareness month and raise money for the nonprofit. The brewery will be selling a ‘Fight Like a Kid’ seltzer; for every seltzer that is purchased Primed 2 Fight will receive $1 back.
The event will have vendor booths, carnival games, bouncy houses, mini horses (noon to 3 p.m.) and soft serve ice cream. There will also be live music and raffles.
All of the proceeds will be going to Primed 2 Fight foundation for their Chemo Fairy® Gift Sets.
“We’re hoping to do ten or fifteen thousand dollars,” Parker said. “Our goal is to donate 500 Chemo Fairy® Gift Sets this year.”
To make a donation visit https://primed2fight.org/donate. Individuals can request a fairy on https://primed2fight.org/request-a-fairy and fill out a short form or visit https://www.mychemofairy.com/.
