It was 10 years ago that Lisa Abbott and her family faced their loss of their second child, Thomas Allan "Tripp" Abbott II, who was born with a heart defect.
The infant lived 42 days in the intensive care unit at Boston Children's Hospital before coming home to Gloucester, where he would live another nine days.
Now, on the anniversary of Tripp's 10th birthday (Jan. 14, 2002), the family wanted to do something in his memory, and embarked upon a quest to create care packages for families who are suddenly uprooted from their lives and their homes to care for a sick child at Children's Hospital.
The family had done the Children's Hospital walk for several years and reached their goal of raising $5,000.
"We continued to walk as a family without asking for donations because people can only give so much, though it was important for us to remember him," said Lisa Abbott. "But in remembrance of his 10th birthday we wanted to do something for parents at the hospital who come from all over the United States.
"Some come with only the clothes on their back via med-flight," she noted. "It's a trying time, and there are many things they could use to make their stay more comfortable."
Abbott, her husband Tom Abbott and children Taylor, 12, and Zachary, 9, will keep Tripp's memory alive in their own lives.
Together with Melissa Pacheco, a South Shore parent, Lisa Abbott embarked on a project of collecting items for the families now at Children's, and she has been overwhelmed with the community's response.
She met Pacheco in the hospital 10 years ago, when her child, too, suffered from a cardiac condition and died.
"Our goal was to raise enough to give each of the 32 families in the cardiac ICU something to make their stay more comfortable," Abbott said. "I was able to do that myself with the generosity of the community here.
In addition to what Abbott called "the gift bag of essentials," every family will get a gift card to go outside the walls to Starbucks or Au Bon Pain.
"We collected enough snacks to stock the family kitchen so snacks will be available," she added, "because everything you need costs you money."
Among the requested items were stationary and stamps.
"Many parents leave family behind so it would be nice to have stationary to write their children," Abbott said.
Meanwhile, Sara Stanton, a young teenager from Manchester, took up the mission and created 50 handmade cards, wrapped up in bundles with stamps.
In a related effort, two local boys who planned a joint 12-year-old birthday party at the Dorothy Talbot Rink at O'Maley School got into the mix. Their mothers, Kristen Michel and Phyllis Mondello, asked for donations in memory of Tripp in lieu of gifts, and the boys — Evan and Jon Jon, respectively — shared their day on the ice to benefit the Abbott family effort.
"I just drew up a little letter that I sent to a few people who told their friends," Abbot said. "Our goal is to make sure his spirit lives on by the kind things that people do."
On Monday, she and Pacheco, who collected stuffed animals for the ICU and step-down unit, will meet at Children's Hospital to make their delivery.
"We will stock the kitchen — and cry a lot and move on to our next challenge," Abbott said.
"I have no way to thank people because I don't know all those families," Abbott said. "They know my story, and I don't know all of them but I am so grateful.
Gail McCarthy can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.
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