Hospital donation helping research

A tear welled in the corner of Lorie Hudelson's eye, and she wiped it away delicately. Hudelson was talking about her daughter, Amber, who died at age 12 earlier this year after battling with Ewing's sarcoma.

Tuesday morning, Hudelson and her three children were at Children's Hospital and Medical Center to take part in a Hyundai Hope on Wheels donation event. Hyundai and its local dealers presented Dr. Don Coulter with a check for $25,000 to support his research into neuroblastoma.

After the check presentation, child cancer patients placed painted handprints on a Hyundai Santa Fe. Hudelson's daughter Shiloh, 15, placed her handprint on the vehicle in memory of her sister. The family had driven down from their home in Elk Point, S.D., to take part in the event.

"This place was a huge part of our lives over the last year," Hudelson said as she said in the lobby atrium at Children's. "We continue to come and visit about every couple of weeks, because we made so many friends here and everyone was so great. It just helps with the feeling of losing Amber, to come back and participate and know that everyone still cares about her and thinks about her."

Hudelson brought two pictures of her daughter. In one, a healthy Amber, dressed in a soccer uniform, flashes a gamine grin. In the other, taken after treatment began, Amber's hair is gone, but her charismatic smile remains. Sister Shiloh, fighting through her emotion for words, said she was at the event to "keep (Amber) in our lives forever."

Other parents said it was important to be at the event to show support for cancer research, as well as Children's personnel and programs.

Anna Steinke of Omaha and her son John, 13, said they were there to support Dr. Coulter and the hospital. John is currently in treatment for leukemia. Michael Reif's daughter Sydney, 5, is a leukemia survivor who is approaching five years in remission. She planned to put her handprint on the car. It was important "to do anything that would help raise awareness of childhood cancer, raise money for it," Reif said. His daughter was only 8 months old when she was diagnosed.