Cosplay for a cause, helping Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

When we arrived at the party I saw lots of scars.  Through the eye holes in my costume I could see that the scars on their heads were jagged, others straight and all of them varied in length.  Some of the patients needed help walking, others danced into the room and others used crutches or wheelchairs to make their way.  When our contact met us during the #RandomActsofBooing she told us about this event, but was hesitant on the details for a reason I now understood.

Recap: We did some work with Buy Costumes and during that we met a woman who organizes an annual party for children who have brain tumors.  She asked us if we could come to the party and help cheer up some kids.  The organization is Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and they do some bang up work.  You can also find them on Facebook, twitter and all sorts of social media.

Prior to attending this event my only thoughts about a brain tumor was that scene from Kindergarten Cop where Arnold tells that kid that “It’s not a tumor”.   That movie is still quite funny and has aged very well.  However, the line now has a different meaning to me and is something that the parents of the kids would’ve loved to have heard.

After entering the room it didn’t take long for the kids to catch the scent of superheroes in the midst.  Wolverine and Captain America were already there.  There were also lots or princesses who all seemed to move as one ‘princess’ unit, like a prettier version of the Borg collective.

I leaned down and hugged dozens upon dozens of children.  Some of the kids asked me my name.  Other children knew about Optimus Prime, but asked me if Bumblebee was there.  There were a couple kids who asked me if I was real-I in turn asked them what they wanted for Christmas, just to throw them a curve ball.

Santa Claus was there too, but the biggest star of the afternoon was Darth Vader.  He arrived with a couple of stormtroopers and they were all treated like royalty.

One particularly touching moment came when I had just met a young boy, about 6 years old who had some muscular issues.  I went up, shook his hand, leaned down for a photo, greeted the parents and then went to say hello to his sister.

My wife sensed something else from this young boy and started talking to him.  She realized that he was blind and asked him if he knew about Star Wars or Darth Vader.  The young man said yes and started to imitate Darth Vader’s deep breathing.  At the same time Darth Vader came up and greeted him.  Darth, if I can call him that; immediately picked up that the youth was blind, took his hand and put on his mask.

He rubbed Darth Vader’s mask for a moment, grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

There was one little girl that I met who was about 8 months old.  She was fascinated by the lights that reflect out when I (in costume) look at people.  Her mother went on to say that she is scared, no petrified of Santa Claus and that her mother was surprised that she was OK with something that appears more monstrous.

Gifts were also given out to all of the children.  Starting in October the children submit their wishes to the charity and they can pick them up at this party.

We saw two girls getting their gifts, one of them was in a wheelchair, one wasn’t and they both wanted dolls.  One of the dolls was in a wheelchair and the other doll looked just like her, but wasn’t in a chair.  The girl who was not in a wheelchair wanted the wheelchair doll, while the other girl wanted the doll that was like her sister, not in a wheelchair.

There were so many instances like these but I just couldn’t see them all.  I only got teary eyed once and that was when the DJ was playing Let It Go.   There were two little girls dancing to the song and beside them I saw a bald little boy who was doing a craft with his dad.  They weren’t tears of pity or sorrow.  Rather it was a combination of happy, thankful and simply seeing all this emotion going on around me.  It was enough to make a Transformer cry.