12-Year-Old Cancer Patient Gives 124 Easter Baskets to Kids

While fighting stage-4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 12-year-old Nathan Yuill decided other kids in his hospital deserved something special this Easter. He raised $2,000 in a single day to make it happen.

Nathan is just two treatment courses away from ringing the remission bell at Providence Alaska Children's Hospital in Anchorage. But before his own journey ended, he wanted to bring joy to the kids still fighting alongside him.

His fundraising goal brought in donations from kind neighbors who filled 124 colorful Easter baskets with presents and treats. The hospital's meal carts overflowed with baskets ready for delivery across Providence and the nearby Alaska Native Medical Center.

"He's amazing. I wish I had half the strength he does," said Nathan's mother, Dena Yuill. She admitted she was shocked when donations poured in so quickly for her son's dream project.

Clinical Nurse Manager Nicki Thurwanger explained why gestures like this matter so much. Hospital days can feel long and challenging for young patients who just want to feel like regular kids again.

"When the kiddos are here, every day becomes challenging and hard, and you look for the little things that make you be a kid," Thurwanger told Alaska News Source. "And so I think that's what things like this give back is, yes, you're in the hospital, but you're a kid, and you get to still be a kid when you're here."

Sunny's Take

Nathan could have focused entirely on his own difficult journey through cancer treatment. Instead, he turned his experience into compassion for others walking the same hospital halls.

His Easter basket project gave 124 children a moment to forget their treatments and IVs and just enjoy being kids. That kind of empathy from someone so young, facing something so hard, reminds us that kindness doesn't require perfect circumstances.

All 124 baskets were distributed in time for Good Friday, bringing smiles to children who needed them most.