by Jon Talbert
Over 9000 children under the age of 15 will be diagnosedwith cancer this year in the United States. In light of that statistic BeautifulDay formed a partnership with Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital to arrangeda fun day for kids in the pediatric cancer ward. On Nov 18th BeautifulDay team members set up a “faire” at the hospital where familiescame and joined their kids to participate in games, entertainment, and tons oflove.
Due to privacy laws we could not include pictures of thekids… so we’ve only add a picture of some of the team
Here’s an eye-witness detail of how the event unfolded:
The Beautiful Day project forStanford Lucile Packard Children's Hospital was held last night, and, based onthe immediate feedback received from the hospital's Children's EventCoordinator, was a success.
Our group began arriving at 5:45 to set up and get ready to entertain/play with/instructthe kids. Until about three hours before the event started, we still hadno idea how many kids would be there (if any). But, around 3:30yesterday, I got a call stating they expected approximately 15 kids to show. In the end, we counted 25, plus parents, health care workers & staff.
LPCH has a "playroom" set aside for these events called the"Forever Young Zone". At 6:15 some kids were already startingto poke their heads in the door, wanting to know if the event was starting yet. Vanessa Lopez, the Children's Event Coordinator, said that was a verygood sign. By 6:30 (the time the event started), a lot of kids and theirparents were lined up waiting to come in.
Kids, their parents and health care workers started coming through the door. Severalwere hooked up to IVs that they had to pull along side of them. Some were inwagons lined with blankets and pillows, with tubes sticking out of their arms,or in one case, their nose. Some walked along on their own, glad to besomewhere other than their room. Siblings of the patients were includedas well, much more rambunctious than the patients, creating a high energy buzzin the room. You could tell they were familiar with the place, many ofthem knew exactly where favorite toys were kept or went immediately to coloringbooks on the table. Glenda sat down and began playing with colored ricewith one girl; Bob, Pete & Monica were walking around, saying hi to thekids, trying to make them comfortable with these new strangers in their midst.
At 6:40, Rich came back carrying 12 pizzas from California Pizza Kitchen, half of which weredonated by CPK for the event. Pizza is, of course, food that almost everychild loves and soon most were eating while they played, the adults having afew slices themselves, in between watching their kids and waiting for the"show" to begin.
Pete Anderson then began what was probably the most fun anyone has ever had notcatching something, or rather, catching something some of the time,
but not most of the time. The kids were enthralled by his jugglingclinic, and the enthusiasm and optimism in the room was evident. Vanessa(the event coordinator) by this point was visibly excited about how well thekids were responding. Pete has a natural flair for being in front ofgroups of kids (and adults), and the entire room was laughing and "gettinginto it" as he led them through the introductory steps of catchingjuggling scarves (they float so your reflexes don't have to be as fast),starting with just one and throwing it into the air, then two, then three,teaching them patterns of juggling (such as "Criss-Cross Applesauce). For 20 minutes or more, the visibility in the room was limited by dozensof colorful scarves being thrown in the air, which were then either snatchedback or would fall gently to the floor. By the time he moved on tojuggling balls some kids were really getting the hang of it, doing far betterthan some coordination-deficient adults. Soon red, yellow and green ballswere also flying in the air, most of these ending up on the floor rather thanin small hands, but it didn't stop the enthusiasm of the kids as they scooped themback up and sent them skyward again.
Around 7:30, Bob McFarlane herded most of the smaller children out into the hallwaywhere he led them in several games that had them laughing and giggling. The first one he set up two lines of kids and had them race each other byrolling soft nerf balls on the floor through their legs to each other. Then they would pass it to each other by keeping their feet in place andturning only their body, then by using only one hand, then by bouncing, thenpassing two balls around in a circle, trying to catch the second ball up to thefirst. I lost count of the different games he led, but the grins on thefaces never ebbed. It was great for us to have something to offer thesmaller kids as well as the older kids. Glenda and Rich were playing alongwith them as well. Monica had "adopted" a small girl, for whom Vanessasaid needed extra attention, and was acting as her own personal playmate.
One of the last kids to arrive (around 7:45) was a young boy who had not lefthis bed for 15 days, and had not eaten anything for the last five. He had heardthe "fun" coming from the event in his room, and decided he wanted tocome join it. He was brought out by his family, still in his bed and watchedthe games being played in the hall. Pete took several scarves and wentover and gave him and his family (including a young brother) a personal jugglinglesson. Before he had to leave to return to his room, someone gave him apiece of pizza and he began to eat it.
One mother, after she brought in her child and sat down, was heard to say quietlyto herself "This is great".
At 8:00 PM we had to wrap it up, despite the fact that children were still playingBob's games in the hallway. We cleaned up the room, packed our gear andheaded home.
It was truly a great experience for all of us. To those who couldn't be therein person, I know you were praying for us. There's no way thiscame togetheras well as it did without God's hand being involved.
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