Author Archives: admincait579

I am currently a senior at Western Michigan University graduating this spring with my bachelor’s in Child and Family Development.

As I sat on the floor in the fitness area of the Children’s Healing Center, I was overcome with feelings of immense gratitude observing the carefree spirit of a beautiful little girl, currently undergoing outpatient cancer treatments at the local Children’s Hospital, run around smiling and laughing completely uninhibited.

My name is Patrick O’Brien and I have been volunteering at the Children’s Healing Center for the past four months.

Hi, everyone! My name is John Kopec, and I act as a consulting physician for CHC. Some of you may know me from HDVCH, where I worked in pediatric Critical Care and Sedation until I recently retired.

When I played basketball at Michigan State, I had the honor of meeting several children who were battling cancer. It always struck me that they looked up to people like me – when really, I was looking up to them for their courage, strength and passion for life.

My name is Amanda Cohen, I am a student at Grand Valley State University with hopes to become a Certified Child Life Specialist (eventually). I just started volunteering at the center this fall but it has already become such a positive influence in my life! I truly believe that the center brings so much to the clients they serve.

My name is Taylor Wilson. Over the course of a year, I had the opportunity to fulfill different roles at Children’s Healing Center. It was a year that gave me many new friendships and made me grow into a better version of myself, because in each role I learned important lessons.

If you had asked me what I imagined high school to be like when I was a kid, my answer would not even come close to matching my reality.

I am 13 years old. I enjoy going sailing with my family and being outdoors. Right now actually, we are at the Sleeping Bear Dunes on the lake at the bottom. It’s fun and so cool to see the dunes. 

Our names are both Kaitlyn. We are High School volunteers at the Children’s Healing Center. When asked by the Center to write a blog post we were excited to share our story of how this experience has impacted us as people and created new long-lasting friendships.