Skip to content
  1. Home/
  2. Latest news/
  3. Personal stories/
  4. How a pint-sized philanthropist is cheering up kids with cancer—one bandage at a time

How a pint-sized philanthropist is cheering up kids with cancer—one bandage at a time

Cassidy McCarthy is a little girl who’s making a big difference for pediatric cancer patients—and it all started with a love of BAND-AID® Brand adhesive bandages. For International Childhood Cancer Day, we share her inspiring story.

Cassidy McCarthy was diagnosed with stage 4 renal cancer when she was just 4 years old. Since then, the amazing little girl, now almost 6, has not only beat cancer, but has made it her mission to help other kids going through treatment feel better.

“When I had chemo, I was scared of the finger prick,” Cassidy has said. The one thing that helped boost her spirits? BAND-AID® Brand adhesive bandages decorated with her favorite cartoon characters.

During treatment, Cassidy overheard a nurse say there was a short supply of these “kid” bandages at the hospital, so she set out to collect 1,000 boxes of character bandages for kids just like her through her Facebook page Courage For Cassidy.

In just two months, she reached her goal of 1,000 boxes—and then decided to up the ante by pledging to collect 1,000 “kid” bandages every year.

When Johnson & Johnson heard about Cassidy’s inspiring story, the company sprang to action and donated 600 boxes of its BAND-AID® Brand adhesive bandages featuring Hello Kitty®.

Learn more about Cassidy’s heroic story in this moving video, which spotlights yet another way Cassidy and her family are doing their part to support other kids with cancer.

1775614113001-5582192962001-5568099238001-vs.jpg
PintSized_09072017


Support Heather’s Fund

You can help families like Cassidy’s cover lifesaving treatments for illnesses and injuries.

More from Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson named to Fortune’s 2025 America’s Most Innovative Companies list

The company’s commitment to developing solutions that tackle the world’s most pressing health challenges has helped Johnson & Johnson be recognized as the top-ranked healthcare company on the list.

Inside Johnson & Johnson’s decades-long quest to develop effective treatments for IBD

Inflammatory bowel disease doesn’t have a cure—yet. But the recent FDA approval of a promising medication is the latest in a long line of treatments from Johnson & Johnson that are helping patients with IBD.

The future of immunology

Learn about the advances Johnson & Johnson is making to potentially help treat the millions of people living with conditions in which the immune system mistakenly damages healthy cells in the body.