Take it from a three-time cancer survivor: The cancer journey is often a lonely one—full of anxiety, distress, and uncertainty. Yet, well-intentioned friends and family have no idea what to offer to cancer patients, and hospitals aren’t able to offer adequate material and psychosocial resources during and after treatments.

Kits to Heart distributes thoughtfully designed, curated cancer care kits at hospitals and cancer centers in the Baltimore/Washington Metro Area community, as well as ships directly to patients nationwide.

Sonia uses her experiences and interactions with patients and social workers to pack the kits with informational resources and comforting products compatible with various cancer treatments. Just like receiving a care package from a survivor gave her hope and inspiration to pay it forward, we can inspire hope at the most difficult moments of treatments.

About the Founder

Sonia Su was diagnosed in January 2018 with an aggressive type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Over the course of a year, she relapsed twice and received her last treatment in March 2019, when she was admitted for CAR T-cell immunotherapy. Sonia was so surprised to see a sweet care package left on her hospital bed from a former patient, resolving to pay the kindness forward. During spring 2020, Sonia spent her final semester of graduate school at Georgetown University to launch Kits to Heart. She can be reached at sonia@kitstoheart.org.

Mission

To bring smiles and solidarity to those affected by cancer, one kit at a time.

Impact

Since May 2020, Kits to Heart has distributed 1,048 kits to patients and caregivers affected by cancer.

Kits to Heart gives curated cancer care kits to patients of all ages currently undergoing treatments at hospitals in Maryland and DC, with plans to expand to Virginia. As of February 8, 2021, we have distributed 498 kits and dozens of blankets to the following locations:

Claudia Mayer/Tina Broccolino Cancer Resource Center at Howard County General Hospital
University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center
Hackerman-Patz Patient and Family Pavilion at Johns Hopkins Hospital
DeCesaris Cancer Institute at Anne Arundel Medical Center
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center at Green Spring Station in Lutherville-Timonium
Moveable Feast
Mercy Medical Center
The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital
Johns Hopkins Children's Center
Children's National
Greater Baltimore Medical Center Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute
Maryland Oncology Hematology Annapolis

Kits to Heart also ships kits directly to patients. As of February 8, 2021, we have shipped 550 kits to 47 U.S. states.