To honor the anniversary of his own accident, 9-year-old James Katona donated over 1,000 pairs of pajamas to St. Christopher’s Hospital’s burn unit on December 21.
In November of 2019, 4-year-old James Katona and his family were making care packages for deployed troops.
When playing tag, James tripped over the cord to an industrial coffee urn, causing it to tip and badly burn him.
According to his mother, Jamie, she had not realized the severity of the burns at first, taking him to their local hospital where he was transported to St. Christopher’s Hospital’s pediatric burn unit.
“It was very unknown at first,” James said. “I first felt naive, and then unknown and then scared.”
During James’ time in the hospital, nurses would bring him donated pajamas daily, as “all I could wear was loose-fitted clothing.”
“I was wondering where did they get all these pajamas from,” James said. “My mom ended up telling me that people donated them, so I thought it would be right to donate them back.”
James’ idea of giving back started with an Amazon Wishlist he and his family call ‘Bubba’s PJ List’, where people and families can purchase pajama sets to be sent to the Katonas’ house and stored there for their next donation day.
The Katonas open up the donations around “the anniversary of his accident, November 24, the week of Thanksgiving.”
Jamie pushes the fundraiser on social media, posting in different mom’s groups, Jame’s school’s PTO pages, and on her own personal Facebook account.
According to Jamie, “It gets shared from there.”
Their first year with the donation landed them about fifty pairs of pajamas, last year “[they] were elated that [they] had 273 pairs that [they] donated. This year, [they] got it to 1,002 [pairs].”
The idea of donating pajamas was James’ own idea.
According to Jamie, “[they] were going to bring coffee and doughnuts to the nurses and then [James] asked if [they]could pick up some pajamas for the other kids there, and it kind of started that way.”
James, Jamie, and Jame’s father, Jay, “hope to make it a nonprofit,” that way they can be a “tax-deductible donation for any company that wants to cash a check.”
According to Jamie, “[They] think that we’re going to be making a Facebook page just for Bubba’s PJ Collection. If [they] can make it a nonprofit, it can grow even more.”
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit [PICU] social worker Becky Malfara has been handling their donations for the last two years,.
“Working [there] and seeing the kids in regular pajamas, it really helps take away a little bit of being in the hospital and is a little bit more comfortable,” Malfara said.
For Malfara, seeing the patients pleased with their pajamas helps.
“I think it helps with being hospitalized, especially in the intensive care unit. It can be scary, and I think we try really hard to help families and children cope and adjust to being here. The pajamas help, especially when it is a favorite character. I remember one girl had a ‘Frozen’ nightgown and she did not want to take it off,” Malfara said.