Proud to be from Pittsburgh: Kellie's Chemo Bags

Chemotherapy treatments for cancer can be overwhelming and scary, but a Pittsburgh-area woman is doing her best to help those patients.

Kellie Crowe creates special bags she hand-packs and delivers to area hospitals. Crowe first got the idea to make the bags when her mother was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer.

"Sitting there, watching all those people come in with nothing with them and no company with them, I was so sad in my heart, because I can't just see that. Like, I was there for my mom and they didn't have anybody," said Crowe.

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Now Kellie's mission is packing up bags, filled with everything from snacks to hand lotion, pillows to puzzles.

"People come in for their first treatment and they're really nervous, you know, for good reasons. It's a new treatment for them, sometimes it's a new diagnosis, and they come in with all their questions ready for us and their fears and they're just really worried and scared and this is like a little bit of comfort for them," said Na'ami Eisenberg, a nurse at UPMC St. Margaret.

Kellie has started a movement with her bags. Volunteers at Highlands High School joined her to gather donated supplies and spent their afternoon packing up bags for strangers. And those small bags make a big difference.

"Everybody loves them. We've had people burst out crying, we have people who tell us, like you know, this is God's way of telling them they'll be okay. We have every kind of reaction," said Eisenberg.

It's all part of Crowe's plan.

"My motto is changing the world, one bag at a time, so that's what I like to think of," said Crowe.

Kellie's mother, now in remission, works alongside her daughter packing the bags, and said their message is simple.

"She wanted to start giving back to those people, let them know that they're not alone. It's not a battle you have to be in alone," said Anita Starkey.

Kellie has already distributed approximately seven hundred bags to area hospitals, and is grateful for all the help she's received, but said her work is far from done. If you'd like to learn more about what she's doing or how to help, click here.

Cox Media Group