April 16, 2009

To celebrate his return to Kansas City, as well as his first Homecoming concert as a solo artist, we are proud to announce that David Cook has joined forces with the Shadow Buddies Foundation to launch his own Shadow Buddy, supporting seriously ill children or children undergoing different medical treatments.

David became involved in December of 2008, when he and Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Tony Gonzalez teamed up with the Shadow Buddies Foundation to brighten the holidays of some very special children at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. The Cooks/Forakers and Postlethwaits have been friends for a long time, and now, David and his family are supporting this very important charity. The Shadow Buddies Foundation had already been in the process of developing a David Cook Shadow Buddy for children, and now is a perfect opportunity for his fans to get involved. With the approval of the Cook/Foraker family, it was decided that the first 500 adopted David Cook Shadow Buddies will benefit All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Additional adoptions will result in David Cook Buddies being donated to other pediatric hospitals in need.

All Children’s Hospital offers care to any and all children, with no child being turned away regardless of their family’s financial circumstances. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that programs that are beneficial to the emotional well-being of the patient has to be set aside in order to focus on their physical well-being. In the last few years, one of those programs to be set aside was Shadow Buddies. We hope, with the generosity of David’s fans, to make sure every child in need gets a special Shadow Buddy to help them through their difficult time.

The David Cook Buddy is now available for purchase! With your donation, a child in the hospital will receive their very own David Cook Shadow Buddy, and you will get an adoption certificate, signed by David thanking you for your generous support.

Click On Our Brand New Buddy to Order Today!

Click here to watch a 7 minute video of the Shadow Buddies story

On the left hand of each Shadow Buddy is a special mark, a child's thumbprint. The thumbprint belongs to a very special person named Miles, the inspiration for Shadow Buddies. Here is the story behind the thumbprint as told by Miles mom, Marty Postlethwait.

Born prematurely with mid-line congenital birth defects, Miles was subjected to various procedures and operations from infancy. My life of mothering him was filled with long days (and nights) in the hospital rooms, doctors, offices and recovery waiting rooms.

When Miles was about four, I met him in the recovery room after a particularly long surgery and leaned over him, as mothers do, whispering his name, urging him awake, letting him know that I was there, that I loved him, and asking if he was okay. In the drugged half-sleep that still held him, I didn?t know what, or if, he had heard me. Suddenly, a movement caught my eye beside his still form. It was a thumb- Miles, thumb- poking up from beneath the white sheets. It was his answer to my whispers, his sign to me that he heard me, and that yes, he was okay. Thumbs up. Everything was okay, Mom.

And so it became our sign, and now the sign of Shadow Buddies. On each Buddy,s left hand is found Miles, thumbprint, the special Shadow Buddy trademark, and every child who owns a buddy now owns a part of Miles as well.

It is fitting that his print is there, because it was Miles who came up with the idea for Shadow Buddies. As you might imagine, heart surgery can be a long, lonely ordeal. After one of his surgeries, Miles asked for a friend, someone just like me. Consequently, the first of the Buddies- the Heart Buddy- complete with scar and mended heart was born.