An iPad library was launched at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Wednesday in honor of a 6-year-old South Florida cancer survivor. NBC 6’s Laura Rodriguez reports.
An iPad library was launched at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Wednesday in honor of a 6-year-old South Florida cancer survivor.
Aaron Pinsky had lots of help from his doctors, loved ones and his iPad as he was treated for Ewing’s sarcoma. His cousin Sarah Clein knew how significant the iPad was for his recovery, so she organized Aaron's iPad Lending Library at the Hollywood hospital.
Cancer patients can now use 16 of the devices donated by the Hollywood Police Department, Little Smiles, and private donors.
“Now people can play and we don’t want any more cancer for anybody in the whole wide world,” Aaron said.
He said when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ewing’s sarcoma in February 2012, he couldn’t walk and was told he had a big tumor on his spine.
But he knew he could fight the disease, and he did.
"I made it go away, I survived the cancer. The iPad made me not bored, [it helped me], and I Face Timed my family a lot,” said Pinsky.
Aaron’s favorite application on the iPad is Face Time. He says it helped him stay connected with friends and family while he was hospitalized.
“He kept in contact with his class, with his cousins, it was amazing,” said Aaron’s mother, Beth Pinsky.
Clein knew the role that the iPad played for her cousin while he was being treated, and she wanted to give back.
“In fourth grade I had a community service project and I knew I had to do something involving cancer and helping kids,” she said.
Aaron hopes to give back, yet again, when he grows up and becomes a doctor or a nurse.
“I think it's nice to help people do stuff, help people fight back and tell them there's not stuff to be scared about,” he said.
Clein said she hopes to take the project nationwide so that all children with cancer at hospitals can have an iPad and stay connected to loved ones who can’t visit them at the hospital because it may compromise their immune system.
For more information on Aaron’s iPad Lending Library, visit www.teamaaron.org.
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