6-year-old former patient donates 515 books to Boston Children’s Hospital
Molly Leary loves to read.
That’s why her mom, Kerry Leary, decided to hold a book drive to give back to Boston Children’s Hospital, where 6-year-old Molly spent the first eight months of her life.
On May 13, the family donated 515 books and 49 care packages to the hospital’s cardiac unit.
“We know what it’s like to be there and what it’s like to have a bad day,” Leary said.
Molly was born with heterotaxy syndrome — a rare congenital defect that results in organs forming on the wrong side of the body. By the time she was 9-weeks-old, she’d fought through two open heart surgeries and a blood infection.
Now, Molly, who loves reading Disney princess books and just lost her first tooth, is starting kindergarten in the fall. She went with her parents to drop off the donations — she always loves going to visit the hospital she once spent so much time in, her mom said.
“It’s her favorite place,” Leary said.
While Molly doesn’t remember her early months at the hospital, she has returned for many check-ups over the years.
Molly said her favorite part of delivering the books was seeing “Dr. Ravi” Thiagarajan, one of her cardiologists.
“To this day I email him around her birthday and Christmas just to give him updates,” Leary said. “And he’ll email me to find out how she’s doing.”
The Haverhill mom said she knows the books and donated items won’t make the families completely happy or stop them from thinking about why they’re at the hospital.
“But if it takes them five minutes to go through the care package and forget what’s happening, then that’s all we want to do,” she said.
Leary said the books will either be given to kids in the ICU or used to stock the hospital’s library. The family’s only request was that the reading material be used on the cardiac floor where their daughter’s life was saved.
“[Boston Children’s] did something for her that we’d never be able to do,” she said. “So whether we’re able to do books or raise funds or do their annual walk, we always look for ways to give back to them.”
Molly reads a book with her mom, Kerry Leary.
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