JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Children who receive care from the Community Hospice and Palliative Care Center, like Taylor Hendricks, have a lot of limitations in their lives.
Taylor was born with Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder that causes physical growth delays before birth and severe intellectual challenges.
“With Trisomy 18 only 1% live to 10 years old and Taylor will be 15 in just a couple of weeks,” his mother, Julie Hendricks, said. “He’s doing really well.”
For Taylor and hundreds of other children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions at the care center, every day can feel like a fight.
But Friday was all about fun as they were treated to an accessible Easter egg hunt, along with their parents at the Earl B. Hadlow Center.
“He loves it. He has a big basket of eggs to go through,” Julie Hendricks said.
The egg hunt was designed with children with disabilities in mind. Some of the eggs had balloons tied to them for easy reaching.
The egg-cellent event was created by the Pruitt Family in 2003 when Mrs. Pruitt was a patient at the Hadlow Center.
Scyles Bush, Pruitt’s daughter, said her mom had always planned the Easter egg hunt for the neighborhood children.
“I asked them if it was OK if we did one in the courtyard her room overlooked and they were like, ‘Yes! That’s a great idea,’” Bush said.
The Pruitt Family still helps set up the egg hunt every year.
“We stuff 1,600 eggs,” Bush said.
That’s enough for hundreds of smiles this Easter weekend.