A Pittsburg man who sold his own car for $1,400 to buy a custom Spider-Man suit has now made free hospital visits to more than 15,000 children battling terminal illnesses, chronic conditions, and trauma over the past decade. Heart of a Hero's work began in 2014, and Mena recently brought his web-slinging alter ego to young patients at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center in Placer County.
Mena's origin story began with grief. According to KTVU FOX 2, he was going through a rough patch when he had a dream about his late grandmother showing him as Spider-Man visiting hospitalized children. He sold his car to fund his first suit and began the nonprofit's work later that year. As reported by CBS News, Mena estimates he has since completed visits for children across California, nearly every U.S. state, and internationally, with monetary and toy donations helping support the work.
The Toll Behind the Mask
The work has come at a steep personal cost. Years of holding terminally ill children as they died left Mena with a 2017 diagnosis of PTSD, depression, and anxiety, the station's report notes. He was forced to pause in-person hospital visits during the 2020 pandemic before resuming his outreach, and in late 2023 he temporarily switched from Spider-Man to a Batman costume specifically to reduce the physical strain of crouching at children's bedsides.
Local law enforcement has backed his mission for years. In October 2016, the Pittsburg Police Benefit Association invited Mena to their station and presented Heart of a Hero with an official monetary donation to support his travel and toy distribution, according to East County Today. Officers had reportedly started following his hospital visits on social media before reaching out.
Inside Roseville's New Pediatric Pod
Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center, one of Mena's recent stops, offers pediatric emergency services. In January 2025, the hospital unveiled a specialized pediatric emergency pod featuring eight under-the-sea themed rooms designed to reduce stress for children, per Gold Mountain California News Media.
The medical case for supportive interventions like Mena's is well documented. A policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics discusses child-life interventions, including therapeutic play and distraction, as ways to reduce distress in hospitalized children. Therapeutic play, the AAP notes, can support coping during medical treatments.
Hospitals collaborate with child-life departments on pediatric support. Child-life specialists use therapeutic play and preparation to help children cope with hospitalization, according to the Association of Child Life Professionals.
A Widening Illness Burden
The stakes for families like the ones Mena visits remain high. The American Cancer Society says more than 40 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer each day, and survival rates have improved significantly. Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death among U.S. children.
Part of a National Movement
Mena isn't the only person suiting up for sick kids. Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jake Gyllenhaal have also visited a children's hospital in costume.
Mena's decade of work in Northern California has focused on offering uplifting distractions to pediatric patients, even as the emotional weight of the job continues to shape his own health.
