Texas Children’s Cancer Center’s Making a Mark art exhibition is showing on The Auxiliary Bridge until Friday, October 7. Sponsored by the Periwinkle Foundation, this exhibit showcases art created by children ages 3 to 22 who have been affected by cancer and blood disorders. This exhibit will travel to seven other Texas locations.
A panel of judges selected purple ribbon pieces of art they felt most effectively represented Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
These days, it’s hard not to see gold throughout our hospital campus. From gold ribbons to gold T-shirts and gold pins worn by our physicians and staff, to a holiday tree decked out in gold, Texas Children’s Cancer Center is making a gold splash to raise community awareness about childhood cancer throughout the month of September.
“Going gold is a way for us both to honor the courageous journeys of our patients and families who have been touched by pediatric cancer and to create awareness on a national level about the challenges these children face,” said Dr. David Poplack, director of Texas Children’s Cancer Center. “This is also a special time to honor our staff and everyone involved in the care and support of our patients and their families at the Cancer Center.”
To officially kick off September’s cancer awareness activities, two gold ribbon tying ceremonies were held on September 1 and 2 – one on The Auxiliary Bridge at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus and the other at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.
Along with remarks from Drs. Poplack, ZoAnn Dreyer, and Chaplain Pat Krinock, patients and their families, and the Cancer Center faculty and staff, were touched with emotion when Christian Spear, a former Texas Children’s patient and 17-year cancer survivor, sang “The Bell Song,” an inspirational song she co-wrote with Anita Kruse, founder and executive director of Purple Songs Can Fly.
“This is a special tribute to all of the children who are battling cancer right now,” Spear said. “The song’s lyrics are a constant reminder that a cure is very close.”
At West Campus, patients, families and staff celebrated Childhood Cancer Awareness Month with a “Go Gold” Parade. The procession of children riding tricycles and wagons decorated with gold ribbons started on the third floor and proceeded outside the entrance of the hospital where the ribbon tying ceremony was held.
West Campus Vice President Matt Schaefer and his sister-in-law, Kerri Schaefer, shared their stories of how a childhood cancer diagnosis impacted their family.
“Malachi’s diagnosis and subsequent battle with childhood cancer changed our family forever, just as it does all families,” Schaefer said. “Although my nephew has been gone more than nine years, we will never forget him or the incredible care that he and our family received at Texas Children’s Hospital.”
Throughout the month of September, the fenced walkway and garden area at West Campus and the gold banner on The Auxiliary Bridge will be adorned with 630 gold ribbons, one for each child diagnosed with pediatric cancer in the past year at Texas Children’s Cancer Center.
“It is estimated that more than 15,700 children nationwide will be diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer by the end of this year,” Poplack said. “While we are curing 80 percent of pediatric cancers, as pediatric oncologists, our job is not over until every child is cured of this disease.”
View a photo gallery below. To learn more about Texas Children’s Cancer Center, click here.
Upcoming cancer awareness activities:
Patients, families and staff walking along The Auxiliary Bridge last week received a sweet serenade from members of the Taiwan Vox Choir.
Comprised of roughly 70 choral members ages 9 through 14, all of the singers are from aboriginal tribes in the Jade Mountain area of Taiwan. The talented young vocalists come from remote areas of the country where resources are scarce and poverty is common. Despite these challenges, the young performers maintain a tireless work-ethic to develop their clear and harmonious sound.
The choir shared their sound with Texas Children’s Hospital and other hospitals in the Texas Medical Center on August 10.
Click here to learn more about the choir and to hear them perform.
Zip, zap, zop.
A group of 10 children sitting in a circle took turns saying each word over and over. Once the circle was complete, the pace quickened until you could barely understand what the children were saying.
Eventually, the group erupted in laughter and applause.
“We went around in seven seconds!” one child exclaimed.
“I bet we can do it even faster,” another proclaimed.
The wordplay exercise was one of many activities held July 25 – July 29 at Camp For All 2 U, an adaptation of Camp For All, a unique, barrier free camp in Burton, Texas, that works in partnership with other non-profits such as Texas Children’s Hospital to enrich the lives of children and adults with challenging illnesses or special needs.
Camp For All 2 U brings the activities campers enjoy in Burton – music, drama, arts and crafts, and more – to Texas Children’s Hospital so that children whose current medical conditions prevent them from traveling do not exclude them from experiencing the wonders of camp.
Child Life Specialist Sarah Coltman, who has been collaborating with Camp For All to bring the experience to Texas Children’s Hospital, said the first annual event was a success and treated dozens of patients and their siblings to a much needed break from every-day hospital life.
“It’s been really nice to see these kids and their parents laughing and having fun,” she said. “We hope to bring our patients and their families this opportunity again next year.”
Camp For All Program Supervisor Allen McBride said campers in Burton always come in very shy and reserved but leave laughing, smiling and not wanting to go home. He said it was no different at Texas Children’s.
“They all seemed to have a really good time,” he said, adding that many campers met other patients and made friends.
Nine-year-old Braden Sing said he had a wonderful time at camp and that the carnival activities were his favorite. Braden has been at Texas Children’s for almost a month. He and his little sister attended camp all week.
“This is really cool,” Braden’s mother, Michelle, said. “It’s given him a chance to do some of the things he’s missed this summer.”
Gallery of photos from event:
Almost 14 years ago, Dr. Jamil Azzam waited in anticipation for the dedication of what he now calls his legacy – the Texas Children’s Choo-Choo Hut, an intricate model train exhibit nestled into a wall at the entrance of the Abercrombie Building.
A boy attending the ceremony with his mother drew the curtain on the hut to reveal what Azzam and his wife, Charlotte, donated to the hospital in hopes of enchanting both the young and the young at heart. Almost instantly, the Azzams’ wish became a reality.
Children and their families who were walking in the halls near the newly opened Choo-Choo Hut flocked to the display, pressing their faces against its glass wall to get a glimpse of the detailed scenes that range from a carnival, an urban area with skyscrapers, a castle and a fishing harbor.
One patient in particular, however, stood out to Azzam, who, at the time, was a pediatrician with Baylor College of Medicine. This patient, Azzam said, had cancer and did not have long to live. As a result, the patient told Azzam and his wife that her dying wish was to be the first person to push the buttons on the display to activate the trains running through the various scenes.
The little girl got to push the buttons. She died the next day.
“Every time I think about the train I think about that young girl and I get tears in my eyes,” Azzam said during a recent phone interview. “I am happy that I could grant her a dying wish and I am left with heartfelt enjoyment that I gave something worthwhile to Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine and the City of Houston.”
The Choo-Choo Hut recently got national accolades from popular sideline reporter Craig Sager during his acceptance speech for the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, or the ESPY Awards. During his speech, Sager talked about his journey battling cancer and the comfort he’s found in the model train exhibit at Texas Children’s Hospital.
“Now I don’t know why I am so brought to this train set,” Sager said. “Perhaps it’s my life coming full circle. Maybe it’s just the kid inside all of us. Or perhaps it’s a few minutes of my life that leukemia can’t take from me.”
Don Bozman, the professional model builder Azzam hired to construct the train at Texas Children’s Hospital, still helps manage the maintenance of the train and said during a recent interview that over the years he’s seen both children and adults receive a moment of refuge from engaging with or simply watching the display. Some of the people he’s seen come in wheelchairs, others use walkers and at least one patient came with a prescription from a doctor who ordered her to go see the display.
“Even though it’s brief, it’s an escape,” Bozman said. “And people, especially children, have great memories, so it stays with them.”
Like Azzam, Bozman said making the Choo-Choo Hut a reality for Texas Children’s Hospital has been the most rewarding thing he’s done in life and that it’s mean a great deal to see the look in people’s eyes when they see it.
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I’m glad it’s positively affected so many people.”
On June 23, the Children’s Cause for Cancer Advocacy held a congressional briefing in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of childhood cancer survivorship.
The purpose of the briefing was to promote the STAR Act (Cancer Survivorship Treatment Access and Research Act), a bipartisan bill with goals of maximizing childhood cancer survivors’ quality of life, moving childhood cancer research forward, and helping kids get access to life-saving treatments.
Dr. Monica Gramatges, a pediatric oncologist and researcher at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, was one of four physicians who spoke to congressional staffers on behalf of the STAR Act. She explained the benefits of the Passport for Care, a web-based clinical decision making tool for survivors and their caregivers, and how the use of this application can overcome many of the geographic, educational, and access barriers faced by survivors.
Texas Children’s is the honored sponsor for every Tuesday’s “Houston Legends” series. For more than 20 weeks, we will showcase the legendary care Texas Children’s has provided since 1954, and focus on milestone moments in our unique history. Also, a complementary website offers a more detailed look at our past, our story and our breakthroughs.
On the right is the Texas Children’s ad that is featured in this week’s Chronicle. Click the ad to visit our companion website at texaschildrens.org/legendarycare. The website will change weekly to complement the newspaper ad, which will be published in section A of the Chronicle on Tuesdays for the next 16 weeks. We also will spotlight this special feature weekly on Connect, so stay tuned to learn and share our rich history.
Click here to visit the Promise website.