ROANOKE, Va. – An item that many people take for granted is giving hope to cancer patients in southwest Virginia.
First Team Subaru in Roanoke teamed up with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on Thursday to deliver 80 blankets to cancer patients at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
"This year, we're delivering about 1,300 blankets to patients across the commonwealth, about 43,000 nationally," said Khiem Tran, with the Leukemia and Lympoma Society-Virginia chapter.
First Team Subaru, as part of its Subaru Loves to Care month in June, teamed up with LLS to make Thursday's special deliveries happen.
"It's a tough thing to come in and see these patients laying there or some hooked up to chemo, but just a little ray of hope that we get to bring in, it's a great thing," said Karen Wiseman, First Team Subaru's owner loyalty manager.
Michael Simmons, of North Carolina, received one of the blankets. He said he was diagnosed with leukemia in February and travels to Carilion for his treatments.
"I'm going on six months of leukemia treatments, and the treatments cause you to not really be able to regulate your temperature," Simmons said.
Simmons said he was very grateful for the blanket.
"You get cold. You get hot. But being in the hospital, you tend to stay very cold," Simmons said. "Having these blankets, they're a very nice gift and something that we can use on a consistent basis."
Subaru also donated more than $37,000 to Carilion on Thursday.