By: Saeed Akhtar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Tilbury Times Reporter
Windsor-Essex County – Children spending Christmas Eve in hospital were a little cozier this year thanks to two local girls, Megan Patrick, 9, and Lauren Meadows, 11, who completed the 4th Annual Megan and Lauren’s Pajama Extravaganza by delivering more than 1,000 pairs of pajamas across the region.
With support from the community and their schoolmates at Centennial Central Public School, the girls collected 1,025 pairs of pajamas through school drives, local fundraisers and donations from community groups. The pajamas were delivered to the pediatric floor and NICU at Windsor Regional Hospital, the labour and delivery department at Erie Shores Healthcare, the Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre, and the Ronald McDonald Houses in Windsor, London, Hamilton and Toronto – SickKids Hospital.
The initiative began after Christmas Eve 2018, when Megan Patrick of Stoney Point was diagnosed with leukemia and spent the holiday in hospital without any special Christmas pajamas. After she recovered, her family launched a pajama drive to ensure children spending Christmas Eve in Windsor and London hospitals would have festive pajamas of their own.
In April 2022, Megan was diagnosed with leukemia for the second time, forcing the campaign to pause. But in 2023, her friend Lauren Meadows stepped in, announcing that instead of birthday gifts she would ask friends and family to donate pajamas for children in hospital. That year, the pair collected more than 500 pairs of pajamas for Windsor Regional Hospital, Ronald McDonald House London, SickKids Toronto, Erie Shores HealthCare, Little Hands for a Cause and the Fight Like Mason Foundation. In 2024, they donated more than 600 pairs to Windsor Regional Hospital, Ronald McDonald House London, SickKids Toronto, Erie Shores HealthCare and the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
“We appreciate that so many people stepped up to help this event be a success again this year. Collecting the pajamas is a big job, but so many people opened their hearts to support our mission to make sure every child in the hospital in our region had a set of Christmas pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve,” said Mellissa Patrick, Megan’s mother and parent of a two-time leukemia survivor. “This year we were able to ensure that the Ronald McDonald House in Windsor and Hamilton received pajamas, and both locations were so excited to receive the donations from the girls.”
Megan and Lauren, both students at Centennial Central Public School in Comber, were thrilled to see their school join the effort by collecting pajamas on their behalf. Earlier in December, the girls set up a booth at the Tilbury BIA Christmas Market and raised $1,500 to purchase additional pajamas, with donations continuing to come in throughout the season.
