Superheroes took over the halls of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's Arthur M. Blank Hospital on Friday, as patients and families decorated capes and signs and paraded through the building for the hospital's annual Cape Day celebration.
The event, as reported by CBS Atlanta, honors the strength and bravery of children battling illnesses and injuries. Patrick Frias, who serves as Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's chief executive officer according to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, served as this year's grand marshal for Cape Day. Per Frias, the tradition began 13 years ago, inspired by a young patient named D.J. who was injured and often wore a cape during his hospital stay, the CBS Atlanta report notes.
Cape Day was created to honor child superheroes like D.J. every year going forward, and the hospital now celebrates it annually every October, according to WSB-TV. That outlet reports D.J. Pitts was only four years old when he became known as the boy in the cape, spending about a week in the pediatric intensive care unit after drinking a solution that burned his esophagus and stomach. Wearing a superhero cape, he has said, made him feel like a hero and like he was helping people. A 2023 report described D.J. as 13.
A Toddler's 125 Days Behind Her, A Cape Ahead
Among this year's participants was 18-month-old Betts Field, who spent 125 days in the hospital fighting for her life after being born with an abdominal defect called omphalocele, in which her liver formed outside her body. Per her mother, Kate Field, doctors discovered Betts's defect before she was born, and the family promised Betts there would be chocolate, queso, puppies and rainbows waiting outside the NICU once she made it home.
Betts is now home, and on Friday she wore a cape for the children still waiting to go home themselves, the CBS Atlanta report states. Kate Field said they were honored to wear Betts's cape in support of children still fighting, and to encourage them along the way.
Patients Carry Cape Day's Spirit Into Everyday Life
The celebration also spotlighted older patients whose connection to the hospital spans years. Simone Shotwell, 18, has received care at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta since she was in elementary school, according to Atlanta News First. Shotwell said her health has kept her from learning to drive or playing sports, but she still holds ambitions beyond the hospital walls. “I want to go to college, I want to become a dietitian,” she told the outlet.
The hospital's own materials describe the mission behind the day plainly: capes are meant to show patients that they are not fighting alone, according to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The hospital encouraged patients, employees, schools, organizations and communities across Georgia to wear capes this Friday, and schools were invited to hold hallway parades letting students and staff show off their capes. A Cape Day Ambassador program also lets students who promote kindness and giving back get involved, and supporters can purchase capes with proceeds benefiting the hospital.
A Tradition Rooted in One Boy's Hospital Stay
Cape Day traces back to a single Friday in November 2014, when D.J. put out a call to local superheroes and declared November 7 Cape Day in Atlanta, according to Today.com. Organizers at the time planned for it to become an annual event with a different child patient serving as master of ceremonies each year, and that first celebration drew support from the Georgia Aquarium, the Atlanta Ballet and the city's mayor, all of whom donned capes alongside D.J.
The idea that capes remind everyone that nothing is impossible for superheroes has carried through other moments in the hospital's history, including one documented by WSB-TV in which five-year-old Hudson Lillystone, known as Super Hudson, handed out capes to young cancer patients while her IV pole, nicknamed Super Bernie, wore its own small cape. A separate Cape Day campaign once asked participants to wear their cape while performing a good deed or an act of kindness, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, extending the tradition's reach well beyond the hospital's hallways and into the everyday lives of the Atlanta community.
