PHOTO COURTESY OF MY CHEMO FAIRY

CREATURE COMFORTS

With My Chemo Fairy, Heather Pastrick is on a mission to bring comfort to childhood cancer patients.

The My Chemo Fairy set includes a plush doll, a book and a “You Got This!” bag. PHOTO COURTESY OF MY CHEMO FAIRY

Heather Pastrick knows firsthand how hard a cancer diagnosis can be on a family. She lost her husband of nearly 20 years, Geoffrey, to an aggressive lymphoma in 2020.

Now, as the founder of My Chemo Fairy (mychemofairy.com), she’s on a mission to help other families. Her My Chemo Fairy set comes with an 11-inch plush doll, a colorful picture book and a canvas tote bag ready to be stuff ed with treats to brighten up the days of childhood cancer patients.

Her inspiration? The “You Got This” bags her sister-in-law made for Pastrick’s late husband during his chemotherapy sessions.

“One day, I was walking down the stairs with the bag and I said, ‘Looks like the Chemo Fairy came,’ and it clicked,” she recalls. “It reminded me of the elf that comes at Christmas, [so] we drafted this magical story and concept and the fairies came to life,” she continues.

From her own experience, Pastrick knows that the one thing many families need most during this time is comfort and a distraction from pain. Her fanciful fairy has brought joy to over 500 families, including those at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“I had a mom tell me her child was struggling to find the strength to walk, but since getting her Chemo Fairy, she will take her fairy, who she named Flower, on the walks with her,” she says. “This is what My Chemo Fairy is all about, reminding folks ‘You got this!”