“We are both rookies for decorating gingerbread houses, so we tried our best,” Fehervary added. “We had a lot of fun. It was something I’ve never done it before, but I think we both kind of learned it together, and it was fun. I was trying to convince Clark to eat it after we finished it all, but he wasn’t really sure about it.”
Fehervary was joined at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital on Dec. 19 by Capitals’ teammates Dylan McIlrath, Taylor Raddysh and Pierre-Luc Dubois to bring holiday cheer. The players got into the holiday spirit by wearing holiday-themed glasses and Santa or elf hats.
Raddysh and Dubois also spent time with patients who will likely remain in the hospital for the holidays.
“I’ve never been in that situation, but I can’t imagine what they’re going through, or their families are going through, so whenever you can try to come here and do things like this around the holiday time, and whatever we can do to help out, to make their day a little better and get some joy in it, try to be there to do that.”
For many patients, the annual holiday collaboration between MedStar Health and the Washington Capitals has been important for them to bring a sense of normalcy to their household. The Durand family learned of the event after Clark’s first transplant at six months old and have made it a priority to attend each year since; they’ve only missed the years affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.