BURLINGTON, Ky. — A Northern Kentucky mom is honoring her daughter's memory by giving back to childhood cancer patients at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center — three years after losing her to leukemia.
Taylor Fox's daughter, Tessa, passed away in 2023 after battling leukemia for two years. But even through her illness, Tessa's spirit never faded.
"Towards the end, she got really big into ducks. She would startle people even [by] quacking in the middle of procedures," Fox said.
After Tessa passed away, Fox found herself with a collection of items still on her daughter's Amazon wish list for Christmas. Now, every year, Fox runs a toy drive in Tessa's honor for childhood cancer patients at Cincinnati Children's.
"When she passed away. We still had all these things that she had put on her wish list for Amazon, for Christmas," Fox said. "So we ended up donating them and then it just kind of snowballed from there."
Fox said the support has been overwhelming.
"The first year we did it, it was all toys and things like that. The second year, I was able to buy about $500 to $600 in gift cards, which is pretty cool."
Now, Tessa's brother Devin officially kicked off the fourth annual toy drive by throwing the first pitch at Sunday's Cincinnati Reds game. The team made a special jersey in Tessa's honor.
Fox hopes the drive does more than collect toys.
"I hope that people bring awareness to childhood cancer and try to have funds geared towards childhood cancer," Fox said. "It being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, not a lot of funds go towards childhood cancer research," Fox.
You can find the Amazon wishlist to donate to Tessa's toy drive by clicking here. Every toy or item bought is given directly to childhood cancer patients at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
