Stormtroopers, Miss America, and Kidney Disease

The stormtroopers went to Children's Medical Center of Dallas on Friday for the party the hospital holds for the kids on the day before the Neiman-Marcus Adolphus Children's Parade. They bring some of the patients down to enjoy a time of doing crafts and meeting some of their favorite characters. The stormtroopers are always a big hit.





Miss America, Kirsten Haglund, was also in attendance. She posed with R2-D2, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and my stormtrooper, all wearing her crown. Not many women can say that their husbands have worn Miss America's crown!






My sweet husband sat down to make crowns with the kids. I was laughing because he wound up with pink glitter stuck to his stormtrooper gloves.




A hospital worker asked my stormtrooper, Darth Vader, and R2-D2 to make room visits. As we were getting into the elevator, she told the guys that she was taking them to the cancer and renal/dialysis wards, and they needed to say something if they got queasy at the site of blood and IVs and stuff. I commented that Steven can't be, as dialysis could be in his future someday. She asked why, and Steven told her that he has IgA Nephropathy (a form of kidney disease). She said, "Oh, then you have something in common with these kids!"

We went up to the dialysis room, and Steven was chatting with a Star Wars fan who was hooked up to the dialysis machine. After a moment Steven told the boy, "You know, I have kidney disease, too." The little boy's eyes became huge, and he said, "You do?!" Even stormtroopers have to deal with medical problems. They bumped fists, and Steven moved on to the next patient.

We found out that there is a kidney camp in May where the kids can hang out with other kids dealing with kidney disease. The hospital worker told me it would be so great if a stormtrooper with kidney disease could come out and spend time with the kids. We're going to try to make that happen. I'd never been able to thank God before that my husband is sick, but Friday, I thanked him for the first time.

Finally, I'll leave you with the sweetest image of the day. As we walked down a hospital corridor, we ran into a nurse walking with a little boy. The boy got so excited about seeing Darth Vader, and he came over to take Vader's hand. They walked down the hall hand-in-hand until the boy reached his destination.