OHSU Doernbecher Patients Design Nike Footwear, Apparel to Benefit Oregon Children's Hospital

OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital and Nike unveiled the 2015 Doernbecher Freestyle collection, a partnership between OHSU Doernbecher and Nike that provides young hospital patients battling life-threatening illnesses the opportunity to make their mark, designing one-of-a-kind Nike footwear and apparel that is produced and sold to support the hospital that changed their lives.

"The Doernbecher Freestyle program is a celebration of the strength, bravery and character of children fighting serious health conditions," said Michael Doherty, Nike's senior creative director of global brand presentation, longtime Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation board member and creator of the Doernbecher Freestyle program. "After 12 years, I remain in awe of the creativity and stories that these exceptional patients share through their designs. The results provide a source of inspiration, hope and support for the wonderful families, health care providers at OHSU Doernbecher, and the community."

Each year, hospital physicians, nurses and staff nominate patients from Oregon and southwest Washington to participate in the Doernbecher Freestyle program. The selected designers travel to the Nike world headquarters near Beaverton, Ore., where they meet the Nike design and development team, brainstorm ideas and begin sketching their designs for the collection's shoes and apparel. The kids use their designs to express powerful personal messages—sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical—about their lives, their experiences and their hope for the future.

Now in its 12th year, the program has raised more than $11 million for the children's hospital.

"Through Doernbecher Freestyle, our patient-designers are able to share their medical stories in their own way, while helping other kids embarking on a similar journey," said Dana Braner, M.D., F.A.A.P, F.C.C.M., interim physician-in-chief, OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital, and professor and interim chair of the department of pediatrics at the OHSU School of Medicine. "OHSU Doernbecher is extremely proud of, and grateful for, this remarkable program. We applaud Nike for seeing these patient-designers, and all of our OHSU Doernbecher children, for the superstars they truly are."

This year's collection of six limited-edition footwear and apparel designs features a glow-in-the-dark dancer, an Egyptian pyramid, comic book legend Stan Lee's signature, a personalized family crest, the Bat Signal and Sasquatch riding a unicorn. To learn more about this year's Doernbecher Freestyle patient-designers, and view their unique designs, visit Nike's website.

The 2015 Doernbecher Freestyle Collection will be available for purchase on nike.com, at select Nike retail locations nationwide, and at select Villa and Shoe Palace retail locations, beginning Nov. 21.

All proceeds from Doernbecher Freestyle sales will benefit OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital.