Bring healing art to kids in medical crisis

In addition to serving children, CHAP also works with adults admitted to the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. We wanted to share an experience from earlier this month. Thank you for making stories like these possible!! --- Sarah Panetta, Executive Director

________________________________________________________

"We Are All Connected"

Camaraderie.  Noun.  Mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together.

This morning after being at work for just 10 minutes, a patient named Cathy* says to me, "This is a wonderful ministry you have here." She speaks these words as she glides into the Family Room and her eyes pour over the paint, beads and mandalas. Cathy places her walker off to the side and pulls a chair up to the table. "They almost seem... alive,"  she declares as she fingers through the collection of beads. She quickly decides to make a bracelet for her daughter. In order to select just the right colors, Cathy takes a picture of the bead assortment. With the help of her smartphone, she sends the photo to her daughter. Within minutes, her daughter replies: "Yellow with blue accents on a bracelet, please." I tell her this is the hunt & gather phase, as Cathy sorts through all the yellow and aqua blue beads. She is totally pleased with the selection. The increase in her energy is tangible. "This gives some purpose to the day. Oh, my goodness!"

As Cathy completes her bracelet, another woman named Maura* enters the Family Room. I have met her before on this unit. Her best friend Betty* has entered into "comfort care". This is denoted with a laminated piece of paper with the image of a white dove on the patient's door. Thankfully, the staff has already alerted me to the fact that we are losing this dear soul and very soon. Maura's heart is heavy with her friend's impending death. Cathy has met Maura, too. They talk over the bead table. Cathy is extremely sweet and supportive. The 3 of us start talking about singing. I tell Maura that Cathy has written a song and performed it for me. With not much cajoling, Cathy says she will sing it for her. Maura begs her to wait until she can grab Betty's sister, who will surely want to hear this.

Maura produces not just one, but two of Betty's sisters. A patient's spouse has joined our group. Our friend Cathy stands up in front of the five of us. This lady's strong and steady voice fills the room and surely trickles down the hallway. We're all captivated. At one point in the performance, she rips off her knit hat (shaped like a cupcake, no less) for dramatic flair. Her wild and thin hair is set free with this gesture. Cathy is a true performer and she has found her audience. We all clap for her. We learn that Betty was a fabulous singer, a lyric soprano, as one of her sisters tells me. I had been visiting Betty for months, but never knew that detail about her. This generates much conversation about Betty's beautiful voice. Even on the phone, her friends loved the sound of Betty's voice. Cathy wishes that she & Betty could have sung together.

The spouse who slipped in earlier has silently made a bracelet while Cathy was singing. She had been in the background through much of this, but then started opening up. She knew she had entered a safe place in that Family Room. She told us her story, her husband's sudden illness, how she strolls the halls of this hospital every time her husband is resting, trying to keep busy. Her journey is met and held with tenderness by the other women in the room. Cathy says, "This is what this floor is missing - camaraderie. But CHAP brought it with the bead table." Cathy turns to me and says, "Why aren't you here every day?"

When the group starts to say their good-byes, there are hugs and the extension of prayers in all directions. One of Betty's sisters says, "We are all connected." Everyone is amazed by each person's strength and perseverance in the face of cancer. No one's experience is minimized. Every woman honors the next. The time passes as a trifecta of crying, laughing and smiling. They all bear witness to each other. The stories are all slightly different, but in the end the same.  "That was inspirational," adds Betty's sister.

The spouse stays with me to make a few more things. She realizes I have alphabet beads and she wishes to make something with her husband's name on it. She collects more beads, blues and reds, the letters of his name. She helps me tidy up. She's so grateful for the interactions with these great women this morning. It felt like a sisterhood. It was. It is.

Links:

• CHAP's home page - visit us!