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

Terra Kremer, Ph.D., is on a mission to create self-sterilizing surgical tools

Since its launch, Johnson & Johnson has focused on helping make surgeries safer. Learn how this analytical microbiologist and her team are continuing in that tradition with a digital app that aims to change the way medical devices are designed and sterilized.

What is lupus?

Up to 5 million people worldwide live with this complex autoimmune condition, which is more prevalent in women and has a greater disease severity in Latin Americans and patients of African ancestry. Learn how Johnson & Johnson is working to innovate treatments for autoimmune diseases.

This scientist develops targeted treatments for cancer—here’s what drives and inspires him

Learn more about Zhao, his partnership with Johnson & Johnson and antibody-drug conjugates—a new type of cancer therapy that targets and kills cancer cells without harming healthy cells.