LIHU‘E — Cheryl Perreira of Puhi, along with her ‘ohana made and distributed 10 “chemotherapy relief bags” to patients at Wilcox Hospital’s Infusion Center (WHIC) in Lihu‘e yesterday.
Perreira donated the gifts in honor of her mom, Brenda Moniz, who passed away in January, and her mother-in-law, Agnes Perreira, who passed away in Aug. of 2015, from cancer.
Cheryl Perreira said she had this idea about four years ago. She chose to donate to this cause because she has family and friends that have gone through chemotherapy.
“I’ve done this for probably four years now as a community service for my pageant queens,” Perreira said. “We call it ‘chemotherapy relief bags.’”
Each bag of goodies contains socks, a bottle of water, chapstick, hand sanitizer, lotion, hard candy, tic-tac gum, note pad and pen, handmade face mask, Kleenex, and hand wipes, Perreira said.
“We know from seeing our family go through chemotherapy that it is hard to do, and we wanted to surprise them with a gift and also a handwritten note to let them know they are not alone,” Perreira said.
Perreira wrote a quote by the late actor Christopher Reeves that read, “Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.”
Perreira and her ‘ohana bought all of the items themselves.
“No donations,” Perreira said. “My daughters love to give back to the community. They are happy to help.”
Joining Cheryl at WHIC where her ‘ohana that included Courtney Perreira, Jacelyn Perreira, Bryanna Perreira, April Ancheta, Amber Ancheta, Dylan Ancheta, Jesus Perez, and Nichole Ancheta.
Ann Dues, a nurse at WHIC expressed her gratitude on behalf of her patients.
“We are so grateful,” Des said. “It lights up our patient’s day, we love it.”
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Stephanie Shinno, features, education, business, and community reporter, can be reached at 245-0424 or sshinno@thegardenisland.com.
