Crystal Lake boy finalist in children's hospital gown design competition

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (WLS) -- A six-year-old from Crystal Lake is a finalist in a national competition to design a new hospital gown for children.

Jack Backe came up with the design to help his little sister, who has a congenital heart defect.

Everly "Evy" Backe is just seven months old, but she's already endured more than most do in a lifetime. She'll have three heart surgeries before her first birthday because of a congenital heart defect.

"Every time she grows, we're going to have to open her up again and do it," said Lauren Backe, Everly's mother.

Hospital visits are a fact of life for Evy's brother, six-year-old Jack, and parents, Lauren and Matt.

"I'm trying to find things for her to wear in the hospital because the gowns don't fit her very well and they tie in the back and you have all of this extra fabric," said Lauren.

So for his sister, Jack submitted a gown that Evy would want to wear to the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Out of 6,000 entries, he is one of just three finalists.

"Some hard days and some days where you could feel sad or bad and then you look at how he makes her smile and that makes everything so much better," said Lauren.

The final entry includes four hearts, snaps to work around IVs and a whole lot of love from Jack.

You can vote for Jack's design at starlight.org.