ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - A local pediatric patient visited the Spirit Halloween Superstore on Laguna Boulevard and left with more than a costume: a joyful memory from a childhood spent having to navigate hospital visits and treatments.

While Spirit Halloween is best known for selling spooky decor and costumes, the company also brings joy to children spending the holiday in hospitals through its Spirit of Children Foundation. 

The foundation donates to child life programs across the country, helping reduce the stress of hospitalization by providing emotional support, creative outlets and education for young patients and their families.

Locally, Spirit Halloween supports UC Davis Children’s Hospital through its Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. In a Sept. 17 press release, UC Davis Health shared that the foundation donated $102,841 to the department earlier this year and offers local pediatric patients the experience to select a costume at one of its stores.

One of the children who has benefited from the program is 13-year-old Adam Olson, an Elk Grove resident and pediatric patient at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

 

The Spirit of Children Foundation tagline is, “Making hospitals less scary for kids and their families,” where proceeds from purchases made at Spirit Halloween stores goes toward supporting pediatric patients throughout the United States.

On Oct. 20, Adam was invited to the Laguna Boulevard Spirit Halloween store to pick out a costume to take home for free. His choice: a playful, life-size inflatable chicken suit that makes it look as though he’s being carried away (or abducted) by a large bird.

Adam’s journey with the hospital began years earlier. He was 6 when he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a chronic condition that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. According to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, symptoms can include abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea and unintended weight loss, making it a difficult illness for anyone to manage, especially a child.

“What’s interesting about it is that irritable bowel diseases, which is different from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), for children, there’s not a lot of information about it, so it was a little bit of a lonely road for me as a mom,” said his mother, Kelly Olson.

Although his condition initially went into remission, Olson explained that Adam became severely ill in March 2022 when he was in fourth-grade and was hospitalized for a week. He received four blood transfusions and began ongoing infusion treatments that continue to this day.

“A fourth-grader going in and having someone stick a needle in your arm every four to six weeks… it’s a really hard thing for a kid,” Olson said.

 

Here are Adam Olson and his mother, Kelly Olson, during one of his earlier stays at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

Olson credited UC Davis Health and its child life specialists for helping make Adam’s medical experiences less frightening. 

“Dr. Say is just the most phenomenal human being. Between her and the child life specialists, they really take the fear out for the kids,” Olson said.

Today, Adam is healthy and active, playing sports such as golf, baseball and wakeboarding in the summer. 

“We’re just so grateful that the medication continues to work… I cannot say enough good things about the treatment that he’s gotten,” Olson said.

Adam continues to receive infusions at the UC Davis Children’s Cancer Center and has since undergone procedures such as an MRI and another colonoscopy. Both he and his mother said the medical team has become like family. 

Olson added that the compassion and support from UC Davis staff have helped their family cope with the challenges of chronic illness.

“As a parent, you watch your kid go through this and you would do anything to take it away from them,” Olson said. “I know they’re supporting him, all the people at the hospital and the child life workers but it really supports the parents too because they help with making it less scary.”

Inspired by his experience, Adam said that he hopes to become a nurse one day. Adam said that his background will help him better understand and care for patients.

“When I grow up, I want to be a nurse because I know what it feels to be in the position of the kids,” Adam said. “I know what it feels like from their perspective.”

Through efforts such as Spirit Halloween’s Spirit of Children Foundation, families including the Olsons are reminded that small moments of laughter and normalcy, such as picking out a funny Halloween costume, can make all the difference amid medical challenges.

 

Adam Olson, left, poses for a picture with a Spirit Halloween team member while picking out a costume on Oct. 20.

Olson shared words of encouragement for parents whose children have recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness: hold on to hope. One of the lessons she has learned through their journey, Olson said, is that children often gain valuable life lessons from their experiences and from the people who help them along the way, lessons in empathy, compassion and resilience.

“In some ways, I feel like it’s kind of his superpower,” Olson said, “with the people that have taught him about his condition and why he has to take medication and why they have to get his blood all the time.”

Families going through similar experiences should remember that they aren’t alone, Olson added.

Adam also offered advice for other young patients facing a new diagnosis. He encouraged them to stay hopeful and trust their medical team.

“It’ll all be better; once it’s over, you’ll be able to think about how you conquered it and that you’re one over what you conquered,” Adam said.