Lombard Eagle Scout stocks up library for teen patients at Edward Hospital

Teenage patients at Edward Hospital have a local Boy Scout to thank for a library full of books, journals, and activity books.

Nathan Lichucki, 14, a sophomore at Walther Christian Academy, knows what it's like to be hospitalized and bored.

The Lombard teen receives regular infusions at Edward Hospital to treat his rare disease. He has been coming to Edward Hospital every few weeks for more than 8 years since his diagnosis. Following a treatment one day in August 2021, he had another stop to make when he delivered more than 900 items to the Child Life Department for a teen library to be used by pediatric patients at the hospital.

"Many times, kids are in the hospital for several days at a time," Nathan says. "I thought that if kids could have something to occupy them at least for a while, that would be very beneficial. I have been in the hospital lots of times, more than I can count, and you get super bored, especially when you start feeling better but cannot go home yet."

In his experience, most people donate things for younger kids, but the teens generally are left out of the donations.

Nathan, a longtime Scout of Troop 202 in Lombard, has achieved the highest rank in scouting of Eagle Scout.

Part of the requirements of attaining this rank is to show leadership in organizing a Service Project for the community. Nathan has been collecting donations for the teen library as his Eagle Scout Service Project from family, friends, and fellow troop members.

Only 4% of Scouts take on the rank of Eagle, and in order to do so, they have to plan, lead and execute a large-scale project that will impact their community in a positive way.

Nathan is an extremely active Scout. He has earned 72 merit badges, numerous special awards including the 50th Anniversary EPA award and the Scouting World Conservation Award.

Only 21 badges are required for the Rank of Eagle Scout.

Scouting is a part of his daily life; he is usually working on a merit badge and keeps a list of the ones that he wants to work on.

He has used the merit badge program to expand his knowledge and explore new topics.

Nathan states "The hardest merit badge was nuclear science. It took me several months and I had to build several experiments and conduct them including a cloud chamber that pretty much took over the dining room for a few weeks. Some other really fun ones were pulp and paper where I made paper from scratch, and I had to be creative with materials that I had at home, I ended up using some of my mom's sewing supplies to make the frame for it!"

He worked with Edward Hospital's Child Life Team to come up with a list of items for the library, including books for ages 12 - 17, blank journals, puzzle books (crossword, sudoku, etc.), small games, fidgets, paints and canvases, colored pencils/markers and adult coloring books.

Nina Sittler, a certified Child Life Specialist at Edward Hospital, said she likes that Nathan's project focuses on an age group that is often overlooked for donations.

"A unique element that Nathan is incorporating are book series," Sittler says. "We would often get individual books from a series but rarely the entire series. It will be nice to offer the entire series to one patient."

Nathan has sent letters to friends, families and businesses to request donations for the library. He has also set up an Amazon wish list that anyone can access and purchase items to ship to his home. He and his family expect to continue collecting donations on an ongoing basis to help keep the teen library stocked - and they bring them every few weeks when he comes here. Since that original delivery, he and his family have continued to make donations - an additional 137 books, 84 toys for Christmas gifts, and 67 blankets have been dropped off in November and December.

Nathan is passionate about improving our environment and is looking forward to solving problems that involve wildlife and their survival. He is going to be studying wildlife conservation and specializing in animal ethology in college.

On Oct. 6, Nathan passed his Eagle Board of Review and is officially an Eagle Scout. His interest in Scouting was inspired by his four uncles, who all earned the rank of Eagle Scout and his grandfather, who was a Scoutmaster for 20 years.

Nathan's mother, Becky Lichucki of Lombard, has been there to help and guide Nathan on his way to Eagle. She has been a part of scouting for many years and continues to mentor and help other Scouts.

Learn more about children's services at Edward-Elmhurst Health at www.eehealth.org/services/children/.