On Tuesday, Adyn, age 13, and Adysn, age 10, Schachtel walked in the ICU waiting room and saw the brightly painted Kids Corner full of books, toys and games for the first time.

“Seeing our vision for a kid-friendly waiting area become a reality is more than we could have imagined,” said Adyn.

Last summer Adyn and Adysn spent a week in the ICU waiting room after their dad had a stroke. Waiting rooms aren’t much fun, even under the best of circumstances. The siblings spent the week thinking of ways to make the ICU waiting room more kid-friendly.

Once their dad was home recuperating, Adyn and Adysn went to work. Instilled with their school’s mission to turn challenges into positive experiences they worked with their parents to set up an online charity and quickly raised $3,000 from family and friends.

Adyn and Adysn presented the donation to the Medical City McKinney Volunteer Auxiliary last fall, along with a room design. Their vision included – bookshelves filled with books and toys, an iPad loaded with kids’ games and a television for kid-friendly programming.

“Our ICU waiting area was geared toward adults, so having Adyn and Adysn present ideas to help make the area more comfortable from a kid’s perspective was refreshing,” said Ernest C. Lynch, III, CEO of Medical City McKinney.

“We knew we needed to help find a solution and Medical City McKinney accepted our idea with open arms,” said Adyn Schachtel.

After several months of construction and gathering supplies the Volunteer Auxiliary presented the Kids Corner to the Schachtel family. The gift will be used by young family members of patients for many years to come.

“We were inspired to create a Kids Corner because when my dad was in the hospital there really wasn’t much for us to do – there wasn’t anything to play with and there weren’t any kid shows on the TV,” said Adysn Schachtel. “Now there tons of games, books, a television and an iPad with games just for kids.”