Make it a Splendid Week: More Than
Next week, The Periwinkle Foundation will launch a month-long series of stories, engagement opportunities, and posts in recognition of September as the national awareness month for Childhood Cancer, Sickle Cell Disease, Histiocytosis, and Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP).
This week’s edition of Make it a Splendid Week sheds light on Periwinkle’s connection to patients and families challenged by cancer and blood disorders through a continuum of programs and services which accompany a child and their family from diagnosis to survivorship. Laura, a Long Term Survivor, shares through a painting how her diagnosis has not defined her, and four-year-old Jonas succinctly recollects his journey and next steps. Make it a Splendid Week!
More Than
Laura, Age 20
Since my diagnosis in 2006, I feel as if my life has been viewed through a microscope, both literally and figuratively. Doctors have studied the pathology of my brain tumor and the people around me and the way that I was different. Though my cellular physiology differs, my diagnosis does not define me. People are fundamentally more than their illness, and deserve to be seen that way.
Cancer
I have cancer.
-Jonas, age 4
It is Neuroblastoma.
I had surgery to remove the tumor.
It’s gone.
Now I have chemo.
Then I sing Elton John’s song
“I’m Still Standing!”
This entry is a part of our series “Make it a Splendid Week”! Follow along weekly to enjoy excerpts from The Splendid Review, an anthology of poems, short stories and autobiographies written by talented young writers engaged in the Periwinkle Arts In Medicine Program at Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers.