Sometimes Play IS the Therapy
Think back to your favorite childhood memory.
It probably wasn’t a report card, a homework assignment, or the latest toy you begged your parents to buy. Chances are, it was a moment. Riding your bike until the streetlights came on. Spending the day with your best friend. Laughing until your stomach hurt. Holding your breath as a roller coaster climbed higher and higher before racing toward the ground. Those are the moments that define childhood, and they’re the stories we carry with us for the rest of our lives.
For many families raising children with medical complexity, those carefree moments become increasingly difficult to find. Instead of planning weekends around amusement parks and birthday parties, calendars often revolve around doctor’s appointments, therapies, hospital stays, surgeries, and medications. Parents become experts at navigating the medical world while doing everything they can to preserve something every child deserves: the opportunity to simply be a kid.
That’s why Brave Friends exists.
At Brave Like Me, we believe Adaptive Recreation is about much more than making activities accessible. It’s about creating experiences where children with complex medical conditions can build confidence, strengthen friendships, and experience the freedom that comes from simply belonging. While physicians, therapists, nurses, and incredible Child Life Programs care for a child’s medical needs, adventures like these help nurture the mind, body, and spirit through joy, connection, and play.
This summer, because of the generosity of our supporters and community partners, Brave Like Me provided 100 complimentary tickets for Brave Kids, their Best Brave Friend, and their families to enjoy a day together at Kings Island. Thanks in part to the generosity of the Kings Island Cares donation program, more families had the opportunity to spend a day making memories instead of worrying about the cost of admission. Every ticket represented far more than entry into an amusement park. It represented a chance to laugh together, encourage one another, and experience a day where childhood took center stage.
As the day unfolded, something beautiful happened. Best friends encouraged each other to be brave before climbing onto rides. Siblings laughed together. Parents watched their children smile instead of counting down to the next medication, therapy session, or doctor’s appointment. For a few precious hours, conversations weren’t about diagnoses or treatment plans. They were about which ride to conquer next, who screamed the loudest, and whether there was time for one more roller coaster before heading home.
Those moments may have only lasted a day, but the memories will stay with those families for years to come.
We often say, sometimes play is the therapy.
Not because it replaces outstanding medical care, but because it complements it. Play reminds children they are so much more than their diagnosis. It reminds parents what carefree laughter sounds like. It reminds siblings and best friends that joy still has an important place in healing. That is the heart of Adaptive Recreation, and it’s why Brave Friends Adventures continue to grow.
Corporate Giving Comes in Many Forms
Days like this don’t happen by accident. They happen because businesses, community partners, volunteers, and generous individuals decide that every child deserves moments of uninhibited joy.
We believe Corporate Giving is about much more than writing a check. Sometimes it’s a company like Kings Island making an in-kind donation that creates lifelong memories. Sometimes it’s an employee increasing the impact of a personal gift through Matching Gifts. Sometimes it’s using Volunteer Time Off to serve families in the community. And sometimes it’s a student discovering meaningful Teen Volunteer Opportunities that help bring Brave Friends Adventures, Brayden’s Books, and Brave Pets to life.
Every act of generosity, no matter how large or small, helps Brave Like Me create opportunities where children with medical complexity can laugh, belong, and simply enjoy being kids.
Know a Brave Kid?
If you know a child living with a complex medical condition, chronic illness, or disability who could benefit from friendship, adventure, and belonging, we’d love to welcome them into the Brave Friends Clubhouse.
Because every child deserves a best friend.
Every child deserves to play.
And every child deserves the chance to build the kind of childhood memories they’ll still be smiling about years from now.
