The Courage of Children
with Cancer Books
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The Courage of Children with Cancer Books
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BOOK KITS The kits are designed to be used by the children independently. However, the book can be made with family and care-givers. Special book kits are available for siblings and close friends. Once a kit is selected and the book assembled it has the potential to be developed and expanded over the months as a documentation of courage and hope. This process of book-making appears to be just a simple low-cost art project, but it is grounded in sound philosophy. The kits are designed to evoke Heidegger's concept of the necessity to be authentic in order to heal the psyche, and of the universal search to find meaning in our suffering taught by Viktor Frankl. When a child is diagnosed with cancer the whole family is thrown into an alien world. There is a great need to find coherence. Becoming an "author" during this time can be a stepping stone to understanding what it means to struggle day to day with the real-world challenges of surviving cancer. The anger, fear and confusion during this time often cannot be expressed verbally. Art is a child's natural language. Art can provide a means of healing the grieving hearts and allow for becoming empowered in a situation that is in many ways out of control. This is profoundly normalizing for those undergoing processes that are isolating, frightening and painful. Optimism and resiliency develop when children can express themselves honestly. When this experience includes the whole family a documented visual history develops. Instead of siblings becoming emotionally cut-off from each other they are able to create a beautiful legacy of their shared struggle. The sibling can feel useful by maintaining the journaling and documenting of each treatment for the family. A volunteer recently said that this project could be called an intervention process because "it strengthens the individuals assets, the assets of mind, body, spirit, creating more spirit." Family and friends can contribute to the authenticity of each book by offering meaningful embellishments to the child as the book is developing. To complete this project all children and families are invited to participate in an exhibition of the books to let the world see and read their stories. We are now in the process of developing a schedule of exhibition sites. All books will be returned after the exhibit.
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