keep kids connected

About Us

Keep Kids Connected was created to help keep kids connected to their family and friends while they are undergoing treatment for cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. The organization was inspired by Caitlyn Mortus (pictured left shortly after her treatment) who is, herself, a cancer survivor.

In March 2009, at the age of 13, Caitlyn was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma. After five months of chemotherapy, her cancer was gone and she is currently cancer free. While going through her treatments, she was given a Netbook computer by a family friend. The computer kept her in contact with her friends and helped keep her spirits up when she was in the hospital for her treatments or not able to have visitors. For a social butterfly like Caitlyn, not being able to be around her friends made her illness even harder to handle.

Her wish is that every kid battling cancer or any life-threatening illness be given a computer so they can stay connected to their family and friends while they go through their treatments. She knows firsthand the power of social healing; how staying in touch with friends can brighten your day and help keep the blues away; it provides a special kind of healing that medicine or doctors can't provide. She wants other kids to experience the power of social healing and help them forget about their illness, or at least make it a little more bearable to go through their treatment.

Trips to the hospital for quarterly check-ups give Caitlyn the opportunity to visit friends she made who are still going through their chemotherapy treatments and meet new kids just starting on their journey. She can't wait for the day when she will be able to present them with a computer to help make their journey a little more bearable.

(Caitlyn Mortus, 5 year cancer survivor, August 2014)

IT ALL COMES FULL CIRCLE

On March 18, 2009 at the age of 13, Keep Kids Connected founder, Caitlyn Mortus, became a patient at MD Anderson. On Monday, October 15, 2018, she started her career as a pediatric oncology nurse at the hospital that helped her beat cancer!

The kind, compassionate, and caring nurses that helped treat her during her journey with cancer were directly responsible for Caitlyn's decision to go to college and pursue a degree in nursing. The world-class care she received as a patient at MD Anderson was instrumental in her decision to seek a job at the hospital when she graduated from college. She is looking forward to helping to treat kids battling cancer and hopes to be an inspiration to them in the same way the nurses that helped treat her were an inspiration to her.

keep kids connected
To the The Power of Social Healing