HOUSTON – Perhaps no 7-year-old loves his stuffed bear as much as Bennett Nester.
"My teddy bear loves to play hide and seek,” Bennett crooned affectionately as he clutched his bear with both arms.
Bennett’s bear has seen him through some difficult times -- through things that most young boys or girls couldn’t even fathom.
In December 2011, Bennett was diagnosed with brain cancer at just 18 months old. His mother was devastated by the news.
Little Bennett and his family spent that Christmas in the hospital, and a number of volunteers and groups left him presents to try to lift his spirits. But Bennett’s mother noticed he gravitated to one toy in particular -- a stuffed brown Build-A-Bear.
“That was the first time in 10 days we had been there that we had seen him smile,” Brande Nester said. "I looked at my husband and I said, you know what, if we are lucky enough to leave this hospital with him, I want to do something like this. I want to give back."
Bennett and Brande would leave the hospital that Christmas and they made good on their promise. They began collecting Build-A-Bears for other sick children and in 2012 they handed out 250 to patients at Texas Children’s Hospital during the holidays. Brande established their own foundation -- Bennett’s Bears -- to further their mission.
She saw firsthand how important it was to bring joy to children who were fighting such difficult battles.
"It's as simple as a little teddy bear but to (Bennett) it meant so much. It was comfort, it was something to hold on to -- you know, something to get him through that hospital time."
Fifteen-year-old Justin Stout had been hospitalized to be treated for cancer and liver failure when Bennett and his mother Brande paid him a visit.
"They bring a big assortment of bears and I get to pick the coolest one. It really brightened up my day,” Stout said.
Brande has stayed busy at work and home overseeing her son’s treatment.
"We've been through 14 months of chemotherapy, six weeks of proton radiation, two brain surgeries,” she said.
But she still makes time for the organization bearing her son’s name. In the past five years, she estimates they have donated nearly 8,000 bears to four Houston-area hospitals and one children’s hospital in Austin.
"We give them something tangible to hold on to, and for them it's hope."
To learn more about Bennett’s Bears, click here to visit their website.
To donate, click link here.
