BB Painter is an incredible seven-year-old girl who not only started her own small business, but is using it to help kids with cancer. BB lives in Morris, Alabama, which is a suburb of Birmingham.
Since starting her “Pearl Boutique by BB” earlier this summer, the boutique has brought in $180, selling items like headbands, scrunchies, sparkly back packs, and tie dyed pants, all of which BB models herself in photos and videos that she and her mom post on the boutique’s Facebook page. But BB didn’t just want to sell her clothes for profit — she also wanted to help kids who are sick with cancer. So BB began selling “Headbands of Hope,” and for each headband purchased, one headband is donated to a child with cancer.
RELATED:“This Is Childhood Cancer”: Viral Photo of 4-Year-Old Boy Battling Leukemia Touches The Hearts of Millions While Spreading An Important Message
“They might not feel that they’re pretty,” she said about the the kids that benefit from her boutique in an interview with ABC7, “and I want to make them feel good.”
In a recent Facebook post, BB’s mom wrote a thank you to all who helped BB in her endeavor to help Alabama’s children with cancer: “Thank you all so much for supporting BB by purchasing the headbands of Hope. Today was her donation day and she was beyond excited! You guys helped her donate 50 headbands to children’s of Alabama’s cancer patients.”
“Me and my mom were looking for stuff to buy for my boutique, and she saw this little club that if you buy a scrunchie or a headband, I get to deliver a headband to a child with cancer,” she said.
RELATED: After Childhood Cancer, “A Heart That Must Work Harder Than Usual” — New Evidence Shows That Childhood Cancer Survivors Face an Increased Risk of Heart Disease
She also said that you’re never too young to start a business or help sick kids. “I want kids to know that if they have a dream they should go for it,” she said.
In a recent video, BB introduced some of her last remaining Headbands for Hope merchandise, as well as some squishy animal pets.
BB has also introduced a new “I Believe in Unicorns” section of her merchandise, as well as some colorful bath-suds tablets. “If you want your bath really fizzy, and you’re body’s gonna feel really good,” she said in the promotional video, “try one of these.”
“And there’s twelve in here” she added, “such a good deal.”
Information about pediatric cancer
11,060 children under the age of fourteen will be diagnosed with cancer this year in the United States, and about 1,190 children are expected to die from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The causes of pediatric cancer are largely unknown, but about 5 percent are causes by inherited genetic mutations. The most common types of cancer diagnosed in kids are leukemias, brain and other central nervous system (CNS) tumors, and lymphomas.
There has been a major improvement in cancer care for this age group, and from 1970 to 2016, death rates for childhood cancer have decreased by 65 percent. Common treatments for childhood cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and stem cell transplant.
Children face unique issues during and after cancer treatment. For example, they may receive more intense treatments, they may respond differently to treatments, and they may respond differently than adults do to drugs meant to control side effects.
In addition, cancer treatment can have a long term emotional impact on a child as they grow older. Cancer.net cites depression about their previous disease, fear of recurrence, and avoidance of health care settings as just a few long term emotional problems that can result from pediatric cancer, and one study estimates that 15% of adult survivors of pediatric cancer treatment experience some form of emotional distress related to their initial diagnosis.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Zara Sternberg is a journalist and writer for SurvivorNet. Read More
BB Painter is an incredible seven-year-old girl who not only started her own small business, but is using it to help kids with cancer. BB lives in Morris, Alabama, which is a suburb of Birmingham.
Since starting her “Pearl Boutique by BB” earlier this summer, the boutique has brought in $180, selling items like headbands, scrunchies, sparkly back packs, and tie dyed pants, all of which BB models herself in photos and videos that she and her mom post on the boutique’s Facebook page. But BB didn’t just want to sell her clothes for profit — she also wanted to help kids who are sick with cancer. So BB began selling “Headbands of Hope,” and for each headband purchased, one headband is donated to a child with cancer.
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RELATED:“This Is Childhood Cancer”: Viral Photo of 4-Year-Old Boy Battling Leukemia Touches The Hearts of Millions While Spreading An Important Message
“They might not feel that they’re pretty,” she said about the the kids that benefit from her boutique in an interview with ABC7, “and I want to make them feel good.”
In a recent Facebook post, BB’s mom wrote a thank you to all who helped BB in her endeavor to help Alabama’s children with cancer: “Thank you all so much for supporting BB by purchasing the headbands of Hope. Today was her donation day and she was beyond excited! You guys helped her donate 50 headbands to children’s of Alabama’s cancer patients.”
“Me and my mom were looking for stuff to buy for my boutique, and she saw this little club that if you buy a scrunchie or a headband, I get to deliver a headband to a child with cancer,” she said.
RELATED: After Childhood Cancer, “A Heart That Must Work Harder Than Usual” — New Evidence Shows That Childhood Cancer Survivors Face an Increased Risk of Heart Disease
She also said that you’re never too young to start a business or help sick kids. “I want kids to know that if they have a dream they should go for it,” she said.
In a recent video, BB introduced some of her last remaining Headbands for Hope merchandise, as well as some squishy animal pets.
BB has also introduced a new “I Believe in Unicorns” section of her merchandise, as well as some colorful bath-suds tablets. “If you want your bath really fizzy, and you’re body’s gonna feel really good,” she said in the promotional video, “try one of these.”
“And there’s twelve in here” she added, “such a good deal.”
Information about pediatric cancer
11,060 children under the age of fourteen will be diagnosed with cancer this year in the United States, and about 1,190 children are expected to die from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The causes of pediatric cancer are largely unknown, but about 5 percent are causes by inherited genetic mutations. The most common types of cancer diagnosed in kids are leukemias, brain and other central nervous system (CNS) tumors, and lymphomas.
There has been a major improvement in cancer care for this age group, and from 1970 to 2016, death rates for childhood cancer have decreased by 65 percent. Common treatments for childhood cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and stem cell transplant.
Children face unique issues during and after cancer treatment. For example, they may receive more intense treatments, they may respond differently to treatments, and they may respond differently than adults do to drugs meant to control side effects.
In addition, cancer treatment can have a long term emotional impact on a child as they grow older. Cancer.net cites depression about their previous disease, fear of recurrence, and avoidance of health care settings as just a few long term emotional problems that can result from pediatric cancer, and one study estimates that 15% of adult survivors of pediatric cancer treatment experience some form of emotional distress related to their initial diagnosis.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Zara Sternberg is a journalist and writer for SurvivorNet. Read More
