(USA TODAY) -- Ellie Hurst sat on her mother's lap reading a book and playing with a doll, a seemingly normal activity.

But this story was about how her mother was going to feel when she started treatment for cancer, and the doll showed what she would look like when she lost her hair.

Ellie's mother, Cindy, says she tried to talk to her 4-year-old daughter when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in October, but she wasn't sure what Ellie was thinking before they read the book together. "Cancer is tough enough for an adult to deal with within themselves, but I think equally challenging is how you help your child deal with it," says Hurst, who lives in Phoenix. "When (the doll) came, it really was a blessing."

Kim Goebel, who died of breast cancer in 2004, came up with the idea for the Kimmie Cares doll and the book while having chemotherapy.

She kept hearing mothers ask, "How am I going to explain this to my children?" says Goebel's sister, Kris Kalnow of Cincinnati.

Kalnow and Goebel started the Partners for a Cure Foundation in 2004 and began to work on the doll. Goebel saw the first doll, complete with the clothes she had picked out for it, two days before she died. Kalnow says she promised her she would move on with the project.

The first dolls went up for sale on the foundation's website, www.kimmiecares.com, on April 25, Goebel's birthday. Advertisements did not start until October, and the foundation has sold about 300 dolls, and an additional 50 have been donated to non-profit cancer support groups, says Pat Herb, president of PHC Group Inc. in Cincinnati, which is in charge of the marketing and advertising.

Cancer Family Care in Cincinnati has used the dolls in its Walking the Dinosaur program that is held several times a year for families with parents who have cancer. Children are grouped according to age and talk about what it is like to have a parent with cancer.

"Because children are very concrete thinkers, they need to see things," says Susan Fletcher, director of the center's Treehouse Children's Program. "So being able to have something tangible, something that's comforting like a doll, really kind of helps."

The doll and book cost $39.99. Proceeds go to Partners for a Cure Foundation, which helps female cancer patients who have immediate financial needs.

With the money raised so far, the foundation has been able to donate money to hospitals to help provide transportation for female cancer patients who would otherwise have to use public transportation to receive their treatments, Kalnow says. She hopes the foundation eventually will be able to pay for treatment for women who can't afford it.

Copyright 2007 USA TODAY