By Brandon McGlone
sports@garrardcentralrecord.com

Lancaster, KY (May 14, 2020) — Wyatt’s Warriors Toy Chest, a non-profit organization started five years ago by a Garrard County cancer survivor, has partnered with Kroger by becoming a certified member of the store’s community rewards program. You can now help support this charitable endeavor that brings smiles to the faces of kids at the University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital by simply shopping like you always have. 

Instructions will follow, but first a brief look at how the organization came to be and what it does:

In January 2014, doctors at UK Children’s Hospital found a large tumor on Wyatt Fielder’s liver. The then seven-year-old was diagnosed with Burkitt non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare but highly aggressive cancer. 

The prognosis was grim. This was just the fifth case of Burkitt’s that the hospital had ever encountered, and there was an expectation that Fielder may not survive through the first night.

Wyatt not only survived, but for 119 days he bravely fought and eventually defeated the disease that had invaded his entire body, receiving his final chemotherapy treatment on April 14.

“It was like being in a forest fire,” Angie Fielder, Wyatt’s mom, described the fear and uncertainty that encompassed their extended stay at the hospital. “After going through this you have a very different perspective.”

After four months spent in the oncology unit at the hospital Wyatt was released to go home. He had become close with the staff and through his experience had developed a unique perceptiveness and outlook on life for someone so young.

Later that year, after a normal visit to his pediatrician for a check up and flu shot, Wyatt left the doctor’s office with trinkets from a toy bin that were given to children after appointments. At this point in Wyatt’s life a flu shot was nothing compared to the traumas he had endured.

“After I was done at the doctor they gave me Play-Doh and Hot Wheels,” Wyatt explained. “The experience wasn’t near as bad as what it was in the hospital where I didn’t get hardly anything.”

Then something clicked in the brain of the mature-beyond-his-years young man.

Wyatt told his grandfather, Danny Cable, who had taken him to the appointment, that it didn’t seem quite right that children in the oncology wing where he stayed didn’t receive similar rewards after undergoing invasive procedures and treatments. Wyatt thought they deserved toys and other goodies as well so he and his grandfather put their heads together.

They came up with the idea of a box, like a treasure chest, that could hold toys and other children’s objects to give to kids staying in the hospital to cheer them up. Cable is handy with woodwork so he made a chest on wheels that could hold a multitude of items for different ages and genders.

Thus Wyatt’s Warriors Toy Chest was born.

By December 2014 the organization had joined the American Childhood Cancer Organization as a non-profit, had cleared all the requirements set forth by UK Children’s Hospital, and the first toy chest was placed in the west wing where Wyatt had spent a large chunk of his time just a few months prior.

The idea was a success.

Nurses found it to be very helpful in caring for their patients’ emotional well-being and word spread beyond the oncology wing. Eventually a uniquely designed chest was made for the east wing, the progressive care unit and the outpatient surgery unit.

Last year Wyatt’s Warriors made a fifth chest for Bluegrass Care Navigators, a palliative care service that provides pediatric hospice for children in Kentucky.

Wyatt’s organization is now responsible for fundraising, collecting donations and refilling the chests each month. The Warriors also do cheer-up bags upon the request of the staff when nurses feel it will specifically help a certain patient -- a specially compiled assortment of gifts that are specific to a person’s age, gender and even interests.

“We want to put play back into every kid’s day,” Angie explained. “Just to give every kid a chance to have a break. We not only serve the oncology kids -- we have the cardiac kids, or kids that may have had their appendix out, or just whatever they’re there for. But all of those kids have a chance to have a little cheer brought back to them. Play is very therapeutic.”

A simple doll, toy car or stuffed animal may seem trivial given the gravity of the situation in which these children are often found. But they are surrounded by adults using adult words, lying in an adult hospital bed with adult machines and adult sounds all around them. 

The simplicity of a toy, if even for a small moment, can allow a sick child to just be a kid -- to be happy, however brief the emotion may last. That is what drives Wyatt to continue this mission.

“My experience -- I don’t really want to remember it,” Wyatt, now 13 years old, said. “It definitely wasn’t one of the best times in my life. You think of a children’s hospital and you think there is probably toys and stuff for them, but there wasn’t really what you would expect. So we’re just trying to make something positive out of an otherwise negative situation.”

Wyatt plans on continuing this project as long as he can. He says he receives as greatly as he gives.

“Every now and then we may do a special drop off to someone and you can tell it really brightens up their day,” Wyatt explained. “I feel like it’s special when we go to reload a chest and it’s completely empty. That means the kids really enjoyed the toys that we got. It makes them happy -- that makes me happy.”

Wyatt is very grateful for the staff at the children’s hospital. To be able to help them do their job is a way of paying forward the great care they gave him six years ago.

“Seeing all the happy faces at the nurses’ station makes it worth it,” Wyatt said about the time and energy he has dedicated to the project. “It makes them happy and excited because it makes their patients happy and excited.”

“I’m incredibly proud of him,” Angie said of her son. “You want your child to be resilient and he proved he was through his sheer will to survive. This kiddo is extremely tough and to keep up with this project shows he is determined. It’s what he wants to do so he’s going to do it -- he’s stubborn.”

In order to get this collaboration off the ground and now to keep it going, Wyatt has to depend on the generosity of the community. He received support when he was battling for his life, and continues to be amazed at how people are willing to chip in.

The name “Wyatt’s Warriors” comes from his church, Mount Hebron Baptist, who had a youth group program called Wednesday Warriors that would visit their friend in the hospital in 2014. The church also sponsors a yearly drive around Christmas that allows items to be purchased for refilling the chests.

Wyatt receives a lot of assistance from his family and friends as well.

“Mom is a big help -- obviously,” he added. “The help from Kroger is really big for us. The donations from people in the community is really what keeps us afloat -- people giving to help us help others.”

If you shop at Kroger regularly you are probably the owner of a Kroger Plus card. If not, consider signing up for one on your next visit. It is free and provides discounts on items throughout the store and even fuel rewards.

To give to Wyatt’s Warriors you can visit www.kroger.com/communityrewards for directions. You will need to create an account or sign in if you already have one. From your account page, on the left side there is a link to community rewards. Click on it and enroll by searching “Wyatt’s Warriors” or by entering their organization code -- PQ008.

Once enrolled, every time you shop at Kroger stores with your Plus card or at Kroger.com you are automatically helping Wyatt’s Warriors without spending an extra dime. Kroger sends a donation of profits to the organization monthly based on the number of shoppers who have enrolled and amounts they have purchased. AGAIN, it is no extra cost to you and none of your Kroger rewards or fuel points are affected.

If you would like to donate in a different or larger way, there are several options to brighten a sick child’s day:

Online monetary donations can be given by visiting www.acco.org/wyattswarriors and clicking on the “donate” button at the BOTTOM of the page.

Cash and checks made payable to Wyatt’s Warriors can be sent to 480 Swope Lane, Lancaster, KY 40444. Unopened and unused children’s items can be sent to that address as well.

All donations are tax deductible.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Wyatt’s Warriors Toy Chest you can email wyattswarriorstoychest@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page.