NORFOLK, Va — Lyric Ward is a little girl in Norfolk who is battling Leukemia, but thanks to two organizations, they opened their hearts and their toolboxes to create something just for her as she gets better.
On Friday, Dominion Energy partnered with the organization RocSolid to put a smile on the face of a young cancer patient.
Together, RocSolid and Dominion Energy built a full play set for Lyric Ward, a 3-year-old currently being treated in the ICU at CHKD.
"This play set will provide a safe place for her sister her cousins her friends to play and interact with her since she can't actually go out into the community and to play because of her weakened immune system," explains Steven Caron with RocSolid.
"I hope it brings a little bit of joy for everything they have to go through. Hopefully it brings them a little bit of peace," adds John Morgan with Dominion Energy.
Lyric's parents say their daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia in March.
"It was the worst day of my life. I'll never forget it it's heartbreaking," says dad, Geoffrey Ward.
Lyric is going through chemotherapy, and the Wards have been forced to make a hospital room their home for the time being. Leukemia is a blood cancer, and it requires Lyric to need donated blood and plasma to keep fighting.
Unfortunately, summer comes at a time when there aren't many donations coming in. Jonathan McNamara with the American Red Cross says they saw a 50,000 donation decrease over the past few months.
"There is a handful of reasons for it. We have schools that are out of session, which are a huge support to the Red Cross, on top of vacations that take people away from our area, and also lead to less people scheduling blood donations and appointments. You add that on top of severe weather across the country as well as the heat wave that is impacting most of the country," explains McNamara.
In the state of Virginia more than 1200 patients are battling leukemia According to the American Cancer Society. For patients like Lyric, the need is constant.
"She gets blood almost every other day since she's been in the hospital," says mom Midrel Ward.
"It's critical, specifically for patients who need to maintain their chemotherapy and treatment. There's no substitute for that blood donation," says McNamara.
"When my baby needs blood, it comes in the room and it's saving her life and it means so much. I never thought about giving blood or anything like that. Now I want to find places where I can help give blood and plasma because you never know what it's like until you go through it, you never know," says Midrel Ward.
