MESA, AZ — The ornaments are not created by professional hands or with intricate designs. But, they will stand out on your Christmas tree because they are not just a decoration -- they are a donation.
"Bentley is decorating ornaments and selling them to raise money for his old toy closet at his own chemo clinic," explained Bentley's mother, Ceene Brazlovitz.
ABC15 spent time with the 7-year-old and quickly noticed his bouncy, curly hair, and vibrant personality.
But, his spunk was nearly taken away for good with a diagnosis less than two years ago.
"They found a mass. I don't remember much after hearing that," Brazlovitz said. "And he got diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma and went through 43 weeks of chemo therapy and six weeks of proton therapy, which was every five days."
Bentley's treatments were aggressive, so getting him to go to treatment was not always the easiest thing to do.
But, at Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa - they have a toy closet.
"Every time a child has to get their port accessed or has to deal with a chemo that's a little rougher on the system and has some more side effects, they get to go to that toy closet and get something that brightens their day just a little bit," Brazlovitz explained.
It was because of his positive experience, that when he was well enough to leave, Bentley wanted to do something for his friend who were still going through treatment.
For the past two years, they've been selling hand-painted ornaments for $8 a piece. They then use the money they make to buy toys to fill up the toy closet for others.
The orders have come in fast since Brazlovitz posted their plan in an online Facebook group. She said they have received over 200 orders.
She enlisted the help of some of her co-workers at Oscar, who created an assembly line to work on the ornaments with Bentley.
Now, Brazlovitz hopes they can fulfill all the orders so when a customer looks at their Christmas tree - they can think of Bentley and children just like him.
"I hope they know that each ornament they bought pretty much bought a toy for a child that's going through the hardest thing that they'll ever deal with in their entire life," Brazlovitz said. "And I hope that the 'Go Gold' reminds them that we always need to bring awareness to pediatric cancer."
You can get an ornament from Bentley by filling out this order form.
ABC15 also reached out to Cardon Children's Medical Center about Bentley's ornaments, and received the following statement from Senior Manager of the Child Life Department Sue Eaton:
“Pediatric patients at Cardon Children’s can choose an item from the toy closets as a reward for their bravery after they go through a treatment or procedure. These toy closets, made possible by generous donations like this one throughout the year from Valley residents and businesses, reduce anxiety and comfort patients during their hospital stay. You can make a donation to support the Toy Closets at www.bannerhealthfoundation.org."
