Kaylee’s Light Foundation

09/05/2026

🛍️Today is the day!🛍️

Stop by Evoke Studio & Gifts from 12 to 4 and shop local for a beautiful cause. Melissa is always spreading kindness throughout our community. Now it’s our turn to show up for her and surround her family with the same love she so freely gives to others.💜🙏🫶🏻

📍14646 Compass Street, Suite 1

09/02/2026

As a mother who cared for a child with epilepsy, I know how frightening and overwhelming this journey can be. Families need more than comfort. They need education, practical tools and the reassurance that they are not navigating it alone.

Kayven’s Care Kits offer all of that with so much thought and love. This is what turning love into action looks like. Please share so these kits can reach the families who need them most.💜

Request for kit here: https://form.jotform.com/260704458424053

💜 **Kayven's Care Kits are here to remind families they are not alone.** 💜

When a child is facing seizures, epilepsy, EEG testing, or a hospital stay, it can be overwhelming for the entire family. That's why Kayven's Helping Hands created **Kayven's Care Kits**—to provide comfort, encouragement, education, and a few smiles during some of life's hardest moments.

Each Care Kit is filled with thoughtfully selected items, including comfort gifts, children's activities, epilepsy resources, seizure first aid information, and practical tools to help families navigate their journey.

Best of all, **Kayven's Care Kits are provided free of charge** thanks to the generosity of our donors and supporters.

If your child or someone you know could benefit from a Care Kit, we'd be honored to help.

👉 Request a Care Kit here: https://form.jotform.com/260704458424053

Want to help us continue this program? Your donations make it possible for us to provide these kits to more families when they need them most. Every gift helps us spread hope, one Care Kit at a time.

💜 Together, we're making adventures possible for all.

09/02/2026

Melissa Mitchell was one of the people who opened both her heart and her business to Kaylee’s Light Foundation. Evoke Studio & Gifts served as a toy collection site, and Melissa created and hosted the Incognito Art Show, donating 100% of the proceeds to our foundation.

Now Melissa Mitchell Art is away caring for her daughter after emergency surgery, and it is our turn to show up for her.

Evoke is a beautiful local shop filled with original art, jewelry, pottery, handmade soaps, candles, unique gifts and a custom Hat Bar. Melissa is an incredibly talented artist who has created such a special place here on the Island.

Please stop by this Saturday, September 5, from 12 to 4. Every purchase will help support Melissa and her family during this difficult time.💜🙏

Evoke Studio & Gifts
14646 Compass Street, Suite 1
Padre Island

09/02/2026

There is one part of the day Kaylee died that I think about often. I started rescue breathing first, but I did not begin chest compressions until around eight to ten minutes after she collapsed.

I thought she was having another seizure.

We missed the first 45 seconds. When we found her, she was limp, gurgling and moving like a fish out of water. There was vomit on her sheets. It was terrifying, but it looked very similar to her previous seizures.

We would give her Valtoco, wait a few minutes, and she would recover. Only three weeks before she died, it took her more than four minutes to come back around. Looking back, that may have been a near
SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) event, but nobody explained that possibility to us.

I gave Kaylee Valtoco about one minute after she collapsed and waited for her to recover because she always had.

What I did not know was that gurgling and “fish-out-of-water” gasps can be agonal breathing. Cardiac arrest can look like a seizure. We were taught to time the seizure and give rescue medication, but we were not taught when to check her pulse, begin CPR or use an AED.

EMS documented asystole around sixteen minutes after the event began. Kaylee never had a confirmed, sustained return of her heartbeat.

Kaylee died from SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy). Before losing her, we had never been properly warned about SUDEP or how quickly a seizure could affect her breathing and heart.

I will always wonder whether starting CPR sooner would have changed anything. Earlier CPR might have given her a better chance, but nobody can say it would have saved her. I did not knowingly choose to wait while her heart was stopped. I saw the same pattern she had recovered from before and followed the plan we had been given.

This is not me being stuck in the past. I am sharing the hardest part of our story because it may help save a life.

If someone is unresponsive and only gasping or gurgling, do not assume they are breathing normally. Call 911, begin CPR and use an AED if one is available.

I cannot change those minutes in Kaylee’s room, but I can use what we learned to help another family.💜

08/18/2026

💜 29 Collection Sites. 715 Toys. 💜

One of the biggest parts of this year’s Kaylee’s Light Toy Drive was our incredible collection partners. Twenty-nine local businesses and organizations said yes to being part of our mission, and together they collected 715 toys for the children and teens at Driscoll Children’s Hospital!

Being a collection partner was about so much more than simply putting a box inside a business. Our partners shared our posts, talked about the drive, encouraged their employees to participate and invited their patients, customers and families to get involved. Some personally donated toys, rallied their entire teams, and several businesses even went out and purchased toys themselves to add to their collections. That kind of participation meant so much to us.

We also owe a huge thank you to the volunteers who helped us bring it all home. With 29 locations spread across Corpus Christi, Padre Island, Calallen and Portland, there were a lot of boxes and toys to pick up!
Jodi Wilson, Libby Vantine Martin, Gabi Valderrama and her boys, Erin Caudill Spangler, Allison Culvahouse & Gilbert Zapata, and Alisa Johnson & Christina Castle gave their time, drove all over town, loaded up their vehicles and helped take a huge job off our shoulders. We are so grateful for each of you.

And to every person who walked through the doors of one of our collection sites carrying a toy, thank you. Whether it was one toy or an entire armful, every donation mattered.

Together, those 29 collection sites brought in 715 toys and 715 opportunities to bring a little comfort, joy and a smile to a child or teen at Driscoll Children’s Hospital.

Thank you to all 29 of our collection partners, our volunteers and everyone who donated for being such an important part of Kaylee’s Light.💜🦋💫

08/18/2026

💜 From art to 40 toys! 💜

A special thank you to Melissa Mitchell Art and Evoke Studio & Gifts for once again supporting Kaylee’s Light Foundation through the Incognito Art Show.

Melissa presented Kaylee’s Light with a $400 donation from the art show, and I was able to turn that into 40 toys purchased from Amazon for the children and teens at Driscoll Children’s Hospital.

Thank you to Melissa, every artist who shared their talent, and everyone who purchased artwork and supported the show. What started with art will now bring comfort, joy and smiles to 40 children during their hospital stay.

Thank you for continuing to believe in Kaylee’s Light Foundation and for helping us honor our magical girl in such a meaningful way.💜🦋🫶🏻

08/18/2026

💜 3,805 TOYS 💜

I don’t even know how to put into words what I’m feeling right now. Our goal for the 3rd Annual Kaylee’s Light Toy Drive was 2,000 toys, and our final count is 3,805. Almost DOUBLE our goal!

What started here in Corpus Christi reached far beyond our city. Support came from near and far as families, friends, businesses, schools, organizations, teams and complete strangers joined together for one purpose, to bring comfort and joy to children and teens at Driscoll Children’s Hospital and help us carry Kaylee’s light forward.

These 3,805 toys came from so many different places. Collection boxes filled around town, Amazon packages showed up at our door, and Venmo and Cash App donations turned into overflowing shopping carts. Kids chose toys for other kids, businesses and organizations rallied behind us, and so many of you shared our posts and helped Kaylee’s Light reach people we never could have reached on our own.

Every single toy will eventually find its way into the hands of a child or teen who may be scared, hurting or simply having a really hard day. I hope each one brings a little comfort, a little distraction, and a big smile.

Kaylee LOVED toys. She rarely went anywhere without one in her hand. Knowing that something she loved so much is now bringing joy to thousands of children in her memory means more to us than I could ever explain.

To every donor, collection partner, sponsor, volunteer, business, school, team, organization, friend, family member and supporter near and far, THANK YOU. We could never have done this without all of you.

2,000 was the goal, but 3,805 is what love and generosity made possible. Kaylee, our magical girl, look what you inspired.🦋

Every toy. Every child. Every bit counts.💜🦋🫶🏻

,

08/17/2026

I just got the sweetest call from Lizette at Driscoll Children’s Hospital, and it really got to me.

We sent 60 boxes of toys to Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley. Lizette and three volunteers unpacked every box, and she said they were in awe of how many really nice toys were inside. She said it felt like Christmas in the Valley.

Then she told me about one little girl who got a doll and was so excited. Lizette noticed her shoes were really worn and you could tell her family probably didn’t have a lot. It got me thinking.

Sometimes when we’re collecting thousands of toys, it becomes all about the numbers, boxes, loading trailers and trying to reach the goal. Then you hear about one little girl getting a doll she may not have otherwise had, and it puts everything back into perspective.

To us, it might just look like a doll. But to her, it may have been something she really wanted and something her family just couldn’t afford. For a little while, she got to just be a little girl excited about her new doll.

Lizette also told me the toy shelves here in Corpus were completely filled. That made me so happy to hear after seeing how much everyone gave this year.

Every person who bought one toy, donated money, hosted a collection box, shared a post, packed boxes, loaded or unloaded helped make that moment possible for that little girl.

That’s what Kaylee’s Light is about. Taking all this love we still have for Kaylee and doing something good with it. Hearing that story today really meant a lot to me.💜🦋💫

08/11/2026