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Moms of hospitalized children get pampered with massages for Mothers Day at Lurie Childrens Hospital
Several moms are spending the weekend at their childrens bedside at Lurie Childrens Hospital. But instead of worrying, for just 20 minutes moms had the chance to relax.
CHICAGO - This Mother’s Day weekend won't mean a day out for some moms.
Several moms are spending the weekend at their children's bedside at Lurie Children's Hospital. But instead of worrying, for just 20 minutes moms had the chance to relax.
It looks like a relaxing day at the spa, but if you listen closely, you hear children. That's because inside a NICU room inside Lurie’s, moms who deserve it were getting a Swedish style massage.
"She had some breathing complications due to a minor virus which caused her to stop breathing and got us here," said Ryan Green, the mother of a 10-year-old patient.
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Green’s daughter Jordan is a 4th grader who has straight A’s, but she also has severe asthma.
"It's just hard when it's your kid, and you see a child having breathing complications and to even see them not breathing at all and having to do CPR on a child, I have panic attacks sometimes, I have anxiety because of this. It's hard as a mom to take it one day at a time because you're trying to conquer the world. … I'm scared all the time … but I push through, I'm a mom. I gotta do it," Green said.
Members of the Chuan Spa and Health Club at the Langham Hotel packed up and took their services to Lurie Children's Hospital to help mom's destress before Mother's Day.
Many of the moms stopped everything to be at their children's bed sides for months.
"A lot of our moms live here with their patients, their babies. So they spend a lot of time here. They don't have a bed so they get to sit on the chair or lay on the couch in the room. So this is a huge opportunity, especially on Mother's Day," said Sandy Cherrillo, Teen Activity Coordinator for Lurie’s.
The is the first time since the Covid emergency declaration ended that people from the outside are offering services inside the hospital. Twenty-minute-long massages were offered to any mom that wanted one.
The director of the spa even had a personal story, understanding what the moms are going through.
"Growing up I had a sister with special needs, and she was in the hospital for long stays, for multiple months at a time. So I was the family that was here. … It's just really rewarding for me, personally, to give back," said Emily McConnell, Director of Chuan Spa and Health Club.
It is moms giving back to other moms, and despite what Green is still going through, she was grateful.
"I appreciate it, because I feel like moms get sort of overlooked because it's something that we're supposed to do and have to do because we're moms," Green said.