Luke’s FastBreaks is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that makes colorful medical shirts for children in the hospital long-term (oncology, hematology, children with GI problems & feeding tubes, auto-immune diseases, transplant, PICU, etc). The Luke’s FastBreaks medical shirts meet hospital standards, allowing them to replace the traditional hospital gown in an effort to help with the mental fight these children face.
The medical shirts enable pediatric patients to feel comfortable during their stay and boost their self-esteem by allowing for self-expression with various color options and designs. The medical shirts also restore their privacy—something that’s often lacking in the traditional hospital gown. Most importantly, we believe these medical shirts give children back their dignity.
The medical shirts meet hospital standards and are recognized by the Association of Child Life Professionals—one of our partners. Physicians and hospital staff credit the Luke’s FastBreaks medical shirts for giving the children a sense of normalcy during their hospital stay.
This video shares more information about our nonprofit and history.
The idea for the Luke’s FastBreaks medical shirts was started by 9-year old Luke Lange during his fight with cancer. During his hospital stay, Luke was forced to trade in his gym shorts and t-shirts for a new uniform—the hospital gown. Most pediatric patients will tell you the hospital gown leaves little room for privacy and strips them of their identity making the psychological challenges for a child fighting a serious illness like cancer even more severe.
Luke said the hospital gown made him “feel more sick”—he just wanted to feel like a normal 3rd grader.
That’s when Luke and his parents had an idea. They cut up the sides of his t-shirts and sewed in snap tape allowing easy access to ports, IVs and lines while also giving Luke the ability to be in an outfit that looked and felt normal (
https://youtu.be/9gIqW99Rba0). Luke wore his new shirts to treatment at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas that day other children within the hospital started asking where they could get one. Soon after the nonprofit, Luke’s FastBreaks, was founded.
Luke's FastBreaks Mission Statement:
Luke’s FastBreaks supports pediatric cancer patients & other children in the hospital long-term by providing colorful medical shirts that replace the hospital gown, as well as other resources including sibling support, hospital staff support and in some cases financial support for families struggling while their child is in the hospital.
Luke’s FastBreaks Tax EIN# 81-1337763
