You might think someone faced with illness most of their childhood might steer clear of hospitals. One Highland Park young woman, however, can’t stay away.

21-year-old Yali Derman spends all her free time giving back to the hospital that saved her life.

Yali was first diagnosed with acute lympho-blastic leukemia at 4-years-old. She had a more serious recurrence at age 10.

The doctors and nurses at Children’s Memorial, now re-located to the brand new Ann and Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, pulled her through a tough time.

And while those procedures have helped to keep her  healthy for the last ten years,  she keeps coming back to the hospital as a student nurse.

But working as a nurse just wasn’t enough for Yali.

She wanted to give inspiration to the sick children. The same way she was inspired by the doctors and nurses.

So she designs artistic handbags and sells them. Everything she makes she donates to Lurie Children’s.

Creating the bags has become therapy for her. To pass along that good feeling, she set up a designing workshop just for kids.

And she ends up telling the families, everybody that is participating, her story and inspires them to create a bag of their own with different art materials, and different exciting things.