By JIM McKINNON
Pittsburgh Post-GazettePITTSBURGH - The children's playroom just down the hall from the Trauma Burn Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Mercy is nothing like it was more than a decade ago when Holli Fox was a little girl being treated for a scalding incident.
Holli, now a 17-year-old honor student, made more changes to the room when she donated $300 worth of toys to Mercy's child burn victims.
"It was miserable for me as a burn patient, but the nurses here made it (bearable)," Holli said, remembering the pain of multiple skin grafts to repair the second- and third-degree burns on the lower right side of her body.
The children's playroom was among her favorite places during her weeklong stay at the hospital in January 1999.
As her senior project, Holli and her family and friends made silk roses adorned with lamb's breath, and sold them through Valentine's Day this year, raising about $300. All of the proceeds went toward buying the toys, which include a magnet alphabet board, games and a play stroller.
Her mother, Kari Kendall, was beaming as she watched her eldest child being interviewed by reporters.
"I am so proud of her," Mrs. Kendall said.
She explained that her daughter, at age 6, had hopped onto a kitchen counter while a pot of water was boiling nearby. Holli bumped the handle of the pot and water spilled down her right side.
Mom, amid her daughter's agonizing screams, immediately stripped away Holli's clothing to find wounds too horrible to describe.
When Holli was well enough and in less pain, she began to spend time in the playroom at the hospital. Her best time there was when nurses allowed her to ride her bicycle indoors.
As she considered ideas for her senior project, Holli remembered her days in the hospital. She decided she wanted to give something back.
"I tried to get toys that would go for all ages, and I felt like this was a good time of year for it," she said. "I hope they're glad and excited about it. There wasn't a whole lot for us back then."
Hospital officials said there are about 100 children under age 15 who will have access to the new toys at Mercy.
One more surgical procedure remains to close a gap between skin grafts on Holli's hip.
"It's amazing to see her, so grown up and so beautiful," said her surgeon, Dr. Jorge Varcelotti.
He congratulated his patient on her contribution, which he said can be therapeutic for child patients.
"It's a huge help in that it occupies their minds and makes them feel like when they were not injured," Varcelotti said.
