May 15, 2014 2 min read

Her late mother so relished a gift bag given to her during her battle with lung cancer that Leigh Stolarz was inspired to create and donate gift bags to other cancer patients at Monongahela Valley Hospital in her mother’s memory.

Stolarz and her children recently assembled and donated the goodie bags to Debbie Burkhardt, director of radiation oncology, to be distributed to cancer patients at the hospital, where her mother received treatment.

Dubbed “chemo care packs,” the bags with crocheted “chemo caps,” lotions, hand sanitizers and other pampering items are admittedly geared more toward women, Stolarz said, but her mother, Barbara J. Wentzel Zimmerman, “got a care package and really enjoyed it and used everything in it.”

The 24 bags will be distributed in both the radiation therapy and medical oncology departments by MVH staff members.

Zimmerman died June 5, 2012, and the day after, butterflies suddenly swarmed Stolarz as she stepped outside.

“I really felt like it was a sign from my mom in heaven, letting me know that she was all right,” Stolarz said.

She channeled her grief by creating a Facebook page called “Giving BACC: The Butterfly Affect – Chemo Care” to solicit donations for the bags to honor her mother’s memory. Her mother’s friends and caregivers gave the majority of the gifts.

“I wanted to pass on my mother’s legacy, and I wanted to do something meaningful for other cancer patients,” she said. This project “was very emotional for me, and I had put it off for a long time because it’s so hard that she’s not here.”

Stolarz posted this quote on the Giving BACC Facebook page: “My mom was so brave, God made her an angel.”