CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Lauren Palmer started a toy drive at Hemby Children’s Hospital in Charlotte in honor of her son Jennings Palmer. 

“We are dropping around 600 toys that have been donated from our local community for sick kids here at Hemby Children’s Hospital,” Palmer said. 

It's a cause that’s near to the heart for Palmer and her son Jennings, because of the more than 100 nights he spent at the hospital. As a 2-year-old, when he kept getting sick, she knew something was wrong.  

“It became more apparent that he just wasn’t getting better, so I took him to the pediatrician, and it was Dec. 4, 2017,” Palmer said.

Around Christmastime and when she was pregnant with twins, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. It’s an aggressive type of leukemia and he spent more than 100 days in the hospital fighting.

She says the chemotherapies for his cancer are depleting to the immune system, so he couldn’t leave his room.

“A new toy for a 3-year-old who’s in a hospital room for 12 hours a day is such a gift,” Palmer said. “That’s kind of how this whole toy drive evolved, because every time someone bought him a new toy, it changed the course of our day.”

They’ve been doing this toy drive for other kids over the past seven years. “Even just one toy makes such a difference in these kids' lives,” Palmer said.

At first, she says it was hard to come back to the hospital, because of the memories here. But she keeps coming to give back.

“Each year we come back, I feel like there’s a little bit more redemption every single year. I can come now with just a different feeling,” Palmer said.

As a parent, she knows how much it means to these kids going through so much to receive a gift.

“I just feel a kinship with all of these parents and their children. I don’t need to say a word to them. I am blessed to bring just a little bit of light and hope,” she said.

Palmer says Jennings, now 9, recently went in for a checkup and came back with clean blood work.