Breath In. Breath Out.

The purpose of Quinley’s Garden is to provide a space where you feel safe to pause from whatever challenges you are facing, catch your breath, process your emotions and then feeling rejuvenated keep going with a renewed sense of purpose. We see you. We’ve been there. You can do this!

Jiao - Keep Fighting - Kia Kaha - Stay Strong

Who We Are

  • Quinley's mum Chelsea created the Quinley's Garden Instagram in Oct 2021 after Quinley was diagnosed with DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma) and given a 9-month prognosis. The family found healing working in their garden in New Zealand and were sad to leave their haven behind when they moved back to the US to be closer to family Jul 2023.  Quinley's tumor began to grow just one month later.  She passed away Dec 18, 2023.  

    The organization Quinley's Garden was created early in 2024.  What originally began as an idea for a nonprofit providing plants for pediatric patients quickly blossomed into a community memorial garden.  We are excited to see how this garden grows! 

  • Quinley absolutely loved to read and one of her favorite books was "Uno's Garden" by Graeme Base.  This beautifully illustrated story shows how we all unknowingly affect the environment around us but that we can learn from our mistakes and improve.  

    When Chelsea told her husband Dixon she wanted to create a small memorial garden for Quinley on their property, he said, "Quinley's Garden, just like Uno’s Garden!”.  The ideas for this organization started flowing and plans were put in place to create both physical and virtual gardens where we can all reflect on the lives that have touched ours and find ways to positively affect our environment. Chelsea and Dixon started Quinley's Garden as a way to help others and share what they learned from their journey with Quinley.

  • Dixon and Chelsea were both raised in Cache Valley, UT. They married shortly before graduating from USU. Chelsea received a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Dixon in Pre-Med/Biology. They moved to Singapore (the Garden City) where Dixon attended DUKE-NUS Graduate Medical School and completed an Internal Medicine Residency followed by Hematology Specialty Training. They added three children to their family while living in Singapore for 12 years. Chelsea loved immersing herself and her family in the Singaporean culture and traveling all over South-East Asia. They moved to New Zealand in 2019 where Dixon practiced medicine until they returned to the US to be closer to family in 2023.

Friends of Ryan’s Place

  • Friends of Ryan’s Place A Utah Non-Profit Corporation was started by Craig and Alicia Adams in honor of their 2-year old son Ryan who was tragically lost in an accident in 2006. Ryan loved to play and the community rallied behind his parent’s desire to improve a local playground for all children to enjoy. They ended up building an entirely new playground with over 2,000 volunteers in just 5 days Children from all over the valley continue to love playing at Ryan’s Place.

  • After building Ryan’s Place Park, the focus of The Friends of Ryan’s Place shifted to the improvement of parks in River Heights, UT.

  • After learning of our plans for the River Heights Memorial Garden, Craig and Alicia Adams offered to allow Quinley’s Garden to form a subset of Friends of Ryan’s Place to allow donors to receive a tax deduction for their donations. We are so thankful for their support and guidance.

What We Provide

  • The River Heights Memorial Garden is a space being cultivated for all to remember their loved ones who have passed on, process their loss and connect with the community.

  • In the future, we will have a Healing Gardens Page that will help individuals cultivate healing gardens for all in need of hope. Our emphasis will be on healing gardens where children in the hospital can cultivate whether that be a potted plant, fairy garden or paper craft garden.

  • Currently being developed, this digital garden will provide connection and healing through an online community of individuals processing loss. Loss of a loved one, loss of health or loss of a dream. This garden will share ways to process your loss and how to cultivate hope, growth, and strength not in spite of, but because of your loss.

Why We Do It

  • Quinley's Garden started as a way for us to process our loss and provide a positive outlet for our grief. The overwhelming amount of love we have for Quinley needed to go somewhere and we couldn't think of a better way to honor and remember her than by helping others do everything she loved most - interact with nature, connect with loved ones, and have opportunities to be creative and express yourself. 

  • During Quinley's cancer journey, we became her staunchest advocates. We honored her needs while simultaneously working with hospital policies and health care provider's recommendations.  Likewise, Quinley taught us through her example how to continue to love freely and live life to the fullest regardless of your limitations.  This garden is allowing us to heal from our loss and we hope it provides the same for all who spend time here.  Part of that healing is sharing what we learned about advocating for your loved one, navigating complex systems and finding normalcy when everything feels anything but normal.   We hope you too will share your experiences and creations here to aid each of us in our healing journeys.  

  • The River Heights Memorial Garden and the Healing Gardens are physical spaces we can nurture plants and help them grow, we likewise hope to help nurture hope for those of you who are hurting.  Life can be so hard and some of our experiences hurt us deep in our souls.  We get that but we also know there are every day moments in life that take your breath away that are so beautiful. Glimmers of hope that keep you going. We hope to help you see the growth that is available because of the loss. The growth doesn't mean forgetting your loss but drawing strength and purpose from it.