An 8-year-old heart transplant patient wanted to eat pickles, so a hospital chef taught him how to make them.

An 8-year-old girl waiting for a heart transplant had the time of her life when hospital officials came and showed her how to make her favorite food.

But it didn't involve sprinkling cheese on pizza or putting icing on cupcakes, it involved soaking vegetables in brine with herbs – pickles.

Emerson Beis, a transplant patient at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH), is on a fluid restriction common to heart patients, which also has the common side effect of craving salty foods.

She always loved pickles, but never knew how they were made.

Sarah Bryce, a culinary services chef and program manager, calls herself a child life specialist. Child Life Professional Associationcooking has often been used as a kind of dual-use therapy for children like Bayes.

“I work in these rooms and see what a huge difference it makes for kids to eat. Just trying to get them something to eat,” Bryce said. said today. “Sounds so easy, right? But it can actually make a big difference.”

To brighten a child's day, she often makes someone's favorite junk food, but when she heard about Beis' preference for pickles, she had a brilliant idea.

Bryce asked Beis if he knew how pickles were made.

“She said, 'No!' I thought, 'I would never have thought of that,' so I said, 'What if we make something together?'” Bryce recalls. “Her eyes lit up and she was like, 'Can we do that?'

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So they spent the morning soaking different vegetables in different brine mixtures, including dill, garlic, and even Ken's Italian Dressing. They pickled not only cucumbers, but also onions, carrots and watermelons.

Bayes said she was drooling from her mouth throughout the entire process.

After the first taste, they decided to host a pickle party and invited anyone in the hospital who wanted to try pickles to enjoy them. Bryce said it was the best two hours of her life as she prepared lemonade with pickle juice ice cubes to serve to visitors who stopped by from multiple departments at BCH.

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Bryce was admitted to BCH as a child and wanted to give back to other children in the same way he remembers being impacted by interactions and quality time with staff. was.

bayes mom tell today Hospitals make every effort to ensure that children feel comfortable in the hospital environment.

“The fact that they're so supportive of knowing what kids are interested in and what they want to do and following those ideas, they really normalize the Emerson experience here at Children's Hospital.” '' said patient Allison Bays. mother.

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