‘SickKids really helped me’: 14-year-old sells paintings to pay it forward
Posted November 22, 2022 5:17 pm.
Last Updated November 22, 2022 6:46 pm.
A 14-year-old Ontario girl has turned to painting and selling her art in an effort to raise funds for Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and to help cope with anxiety.
“I was always drawn to crafts and like painting,” Tanika Jacobs said alongside her mother, Nicolette Jacobs.
Tanika is a SickKids ambassador and an organ donor advocate because through the years she said the staff at the hospital have helped her.
“I started raising money because of my way to give back to SickKids because I had two double lung transplants and SickKids really helped me, and I wouldn’t be here today,” she said.
Tanika was diagnosed with type one diabetes in 2016 and her body went into septic shock because of it. That resulted in the need for a transplant. She is now waiting for a third one.
RELATED: SickKids announces $50M donation to support brain and mental health initiatives
Jacobs said it has been a long journey for the teen, but added Tanika has remained positive and is determined to give back to SickKids.
Nicolette said Tanika’s art has become another tool she uses to pay it forward.
“Tanika was also stuck in hospital for long periods of time, so she would like paint all out of canvas and have an art show in her actual hospital room and a lot of the doctors and nurses would come support and buy a painting and then all the proceeds went to SickKids,” Nicolette said.
“It definitely makes me feel good.”
Tanika sells her pieces through her Instagram account.
