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A Day at a Philadelphia Museum For Kids Who Really Need Some Fun

By Mike DeNardo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A few dozen children today were taking a break from their struggles with life-threatening diseases to enjoy a much-needed day out.

Kids climbed on model boats and ran through the exhibits at the Independence Seaport Museum.

It's a day provided by the Baltimore-based "Casey Cares" Foundation.  Casey Baynes started the foundation fourteen years ago when she volunteered at a hospital and saw a child missing out on a celebrity visit.

"I heard this little voice say, 'I wish I had cancer.  Maybe I'd get cool stuff too,' " she recalls.

The museum day was a welcome diversion for Heather McSorley, whose two-year-old daughter, Savannah, is battling neuroblastoma.

"It's just such an experience to see the joy on my kid's face that we typically may not be able to afford, because of all our expenses," she notes.

The day gave parents and kids a chance to bond with other families in the same boat.  Nine-year-old Cullen Jones, of Devon, Pa., had an encouraging message.

"I tell them, great job for beating cancer."  Because that's what he did.

 

 

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