Collin Knapp of Foley takes a spin on the Children's
Dream Racer while USS Hope nurse Alan Hardy and
nurse manager Terri Wright look on.

MOBILE - Imagine roaring into the turn at your favorite racetrack, using all your driving skills to be first to victory lane! That's the feeling some children at USA Children's & Women's Hospital now have, since a Children's Dream Racer miniature car has been installed in the hospital's USS Hope treatment center.

The car was purchased and donated by The Better Life Foundation of the band 3 Doors Down. The band's members are from coastal Mississippi and their foundation, which has a history of gifting USA Children's & Women's Hospital, actively supports numerous children's initiatives throughout the central Gulf Coast.

"We are excited to donate this Children's Dream Racer to USA Children's & Women's Hospital," Mark Smith, director of The Better Life Foundation, said. "Hopefully, it will make the time go by faster when the children are taking their chemotherapy and infusion treatments."

Children can sit in the miniature car and experience the thrills of racing while receiving their treatments for cancer or sickle cell disease. The Children's Dream Racer comes with a flat panel display, CD/DVD player, PlayStation, swivel food tray and cup holder, as well as room for an IV pole and oxygen. The miniature car was built using the same materials as NASCAR race cars, including a safety harness and window nets.

"We are a place where kids can be kids," Dr. Becky DeVillier, administrator at USA Children's & Women's Hospital, said. "The USS Hope is such a place, with bright, lively colors, computers, televisions, even tropical fish. The Children's Dream Racer is a wonderful addition to our 'distraction therapy' program for kids, and we are most appreciative of 3 Doors Down and The Better Life Foundation for their continuing generosity to USA Children's & Women's Hospital."

Children in the hospital's USS Hope treatment center often spend many hours receiving therapies. USS Hope nurse manager Terri Wright said the Children's Dream Racer will make the time pass more quickly. "We have some children who are here literally all day," Wright said. "The Children's Dream Racer is so entertaining and authentic that I can imagine children actually looking forward to their treatments, just so they can play in the car."

University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital is among less than ten freestanding hospitals in the country dedicated specifically to the health care needs of children and women, offering Mobile's only neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, pediatric oncology outpatient center and high-risk obstetrical care. For more information, please visit www.southalabama.edu/usacwh or call (251) 415-1000.

For more information on the Children's Dream Racer, please visit www.childrensdreamracer.com and for more information on The Better Life Foundation, please visit www.thebetterlifefoundation.org.

Matt Roberts of 3 Doors Down visits with Collin Knapp, the first patient in the USS Hope at USA Children's & Women's Hospital to "test drive" the new Children's Dream Racer.