Cancer survivor Sophia Megan set to celebrate upcoming milestones

Marking the milestones in our lives is just part of the journey. A seven-year-old cancer survivor is coming up on a couple of key milestones in her life. Sophia Megan plans to celebrate them in a special way.

The soon to be eight-year-old from Pickering is committed to packing Love Boxes – with love. Inside each box are a number of things that will help brighten a child’s stay in the hospital, such as toys and games.

“She’s the CEO of the project, she’s like right in there and she just loves filling them with extra toys,” said Nicolle Georgiev, Sophia’s mother.

Sophia Megan spent a lot of time in the hospital when she was younger. She was diagnosed with cancer a month shy of her second birthday.

“We know what it’s like first hand to need help and strangers have come forward to want to put a smile on her face, so to be able to give back is the ultimate blessing,” said Georgiev.

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The Love Boxes are part of The Super Sophia Project that started in 2012.

One of the only things the second grader loves more than filling the Love Boxes is distributing them to hospital patients.

“It makes you feel good when you’re going through a rough time and in and out of the hospital, it makes you feel happy to know that there’s a little girl out there who’s been through it and she’s trying to make other people feel better about being in the hospital,” said Rebecca Winter, mother of a Lakeridge Health patient.

“So really, this is our ultimate goal and our ultimate message and it’s so simple. It’s spread love, be kind and honestly never give up hope,” said Georgiev.

They haven’t given up hope – July marks a couple of important milestones.

“We celebrate life every single day but this is like extra special, it’s her eighth birthday, we’re four years cancer free, so really she’s just going to do what an eight-year-old wants to do, we’ll have a jumpy castle, invite her classmates and really honestly just celebrate life,” said Georgiev.

As part of Sophia’s birthday celebration, she wants to donate more Love Boxes to Lakeridge Health Oshawa. While she gave out a few Wednesday, the goal is to bring another 100 at the end of July.

“Right now we know that the hospital is out of boxes for the smaller kids, so once we hear that, it’s like okay we got to help,” said Georgiev.

“It’s nice to see when the kids get lined up and they’re just excited to see something joyous within their stay in the hospital, it is a vulnerable time,” said Krystle Luu, Lakeridge Health paediatric unit manager.

The project has to date raised and donated around 600 scrubs and 4,000 Love Boxes to kids in the hospital. They hope the Durham Region will help them reach their goal for this summer.