The Healing Hat

Sam and Jenna

The Healing Hat and its first two owners. 

In the words of my brother when I showed him the e-mail thread from whence this picture was copied ...

"THAT is the coolest. Thing. Ever." Couldn't agree more, Gary.

The healing hat was created by Sharon Parker one of our dear friends. She made it for Sam last year when Sam was struggling with leukemia and the (horrible) effects of chemotherapy. As I'm sure everyone knows, chemo leaves people hairless. What you may not know is that most of the body's warmth is lost through the head and chemo patients spend a considerable amount of time, not only in pain from all the poisonous damage to their body, but also freezing as well.

Enter the healing hat, a term coined by Gretchen once the hat began its journey from one owner to the next on the 6th floor of Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago.

You had to be there to see the sheer relief on Sam's face when she put it on during periods where she was so cold she could barely stand it. It was a look of utter contentment and, in my opinion, gave Sam some semblance of control at a time when she had very little. You know how, when you haven't got much going for you, even the smallest things take on enormous significance? Yeah, just like that.

She wore it often ... while watching cooking shows on the Food Network, skyping with family and friends, getting her "ass kicked by Rosetta Stone Arabic" (her words), listening to her iPod, doing homework, you name it. The hat was, in a very real sense, a major contributor to her comfort and well being.

As Sam neared the end of her treatment at UC she met another young person, Jenna, with the same type of leukemia, AML, which stands for Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. They became very good friends and the hat was passed to Jenna. Today they are both in college having successfully weathered the storm. They remain close and in fact consider themselves sisters.

The picture at the beginning of the blog is Healing Hat owner number three, a little ten year old girl named Molly who underwent a bone marrow transplant earlier this month for treatment of ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia). Jenna passed the hat to Molly before leaving Comer and we all wish little Molly the same fantastic success as her new big sisters, Sam and Jenna.

It will be very hard for Molly but she is a very tough little girl, even insisting on skyping into class from the hospital so she doesn't fall behind and, as you can tell from her smile, she has the same indomitable spirit Sam and Jenna possess. She also has the healing hat on her side and that is no small comfort.

Oh, and finally, I should also mention how YOU can help stamp out these miserable afflictions. A friend of ours, Rich Avena, is running the Chicago marathon next week to raise money for the Illinois Chapter of the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society. In addition to other terrific organizations like St. Baldricks, Bear Necessities, and UC - Comer Children's Hospital, the Society is making major strides in the treatment of pediatric cancer, especially with regard to blood cancers. Some contribute money, others research, and still others treatment. It's going to take everyone's assistance to eliminate these scourges.

As with the little healing hat, nothing is too small to make a difference. Even $5 or $10 helps. Really. Please consider donating: A Little Healing Goes A Long Way

THANK YOU.

Richie