Girl collects more than 2,300 pairs of silly socks for fellow patients in hospital
“It’s something fun they can look down at, and smile."
— -- A 12-year-old girl has collected thousands of pairs of silly socks for her friends staying in the hospital where she receives chemotherapy.
Emma Becker has been a patient for 4 years at Connecticut Children's Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford for neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition that causes tumors in her optic nerves and brain.
To cheer up her fellow patients, Emma asked Facebook users to donate socks to her special fundraiser, in honor of her Aug. 11 birthday this year.
"She said giving back to the other kids makes her happy," Emma’s mom, Rebecca Donkor of Higganum, Connecticut, told ABC News. "She has a strong social media presence and thankfully people back her, and help her spread joy."
Donkor, a mother of two, said her duaghter Emma came up with the idea to host a sock drive in lieu of kids receiving the hospital-issued socks they typically handed out to new patients at CCMC.
Emma has collected more than 2,300 pairs of fun, silly socks for children ages infant to teenager.
“It’s something fun they can look down at, and smile,” Donkor said, adding that Emma still has two boxes of socks to open.
Monica Buchanan, director of corporate communications at CCMC, described Emma as a "thoughtful and caring young lady."
"It takes a special person to put the needs of others before their own," Buchanan wrote to ABC News in an email. "To see Emma give back to the patients at Connecticut Children's Medical Center is the perfect illustration of everything that is right in the world. We can't thank her enough for her 'silly sock' donation!"
Despite battling her own illness, Emma's many good deeds for her friends have included collecting 10,000 cans of Play-Doh, hosting multiple toy drives and using money earned from a lemonade stand to buy $300 in iTunes gift cards.
"We try and turn this into a positive thing and tell her that she's been going through this journey to make a difference in the world, which she's been doing ever since," Donkor said.
For her next project, Emma hopes to collect Halloween costumes for her friends at the hospital.