Happiness

I talked with an 8-yr old cancer patient today. It was amazing how much energy he had. We went to the playroom and spent the entire afternoon putting together Lego pieces to build our own racecars. He was quite the engineer! I asked him how things were going and how long he had been in the hospital. He replied that it was his second month, and that his treatment was going well. His parents were very happy, and that made him happy. To hear those words uttered by him made my heart melt. Throughout the entire afternoon, we joked, laughed, and just talked. I couldn’t believe how much life this little patient had in him! He was a little ball of energy! When I left, he gave me the longest hug, and asked about when he would see me next. He said I was the “best Lego builder ever,” which surprised me, considering my racecar was not built anywhere near as elaborately as his was. Today, I learned something valuable from my little friend. He taught me that it was possible to still be optimistic and happy, even when life doesn’t turn out quite as you planned it. Times can get tough, and life can be difficult, but as the saying goes, “When life hands you lemons, squeeze some lemonade.” He taught me that happiness can be found anywhere, even in places that you would least expect to find it, such as the cancer center.

Hope

For the first half of the day today, I folded bed sheets, pillow cases, and blankets to stock into the closets of each hospital room on the children’s floor. It was a good and relaxing time, and I was able to talk with the nurses and get to know some of them better. For the second half of the day, I walked around to the different patient rooms to see if anyone wanted company. I had the chance to talk with a 12 years old patient, who was in the hospital with a rare condition that was affecting her eyesight. Doctors were trying out various treatment plans for her, but thus far, there has not been any luck. However, after talking to her mom and her, I realized they both had something in them that, in my opinion, is as important as finding a successful treatment; they both still had great hope.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said: "If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.” Indeed, I have seen many heartbreaking stories during my volunteering experience, but in every successful case, I believe that having hope was key to a patient’s recovery. Granted, not every day is a good day in the hospital, and not every patient will receive good news. A patient may even receive weeks after weeks of bad news. However, having hope keeps a patient from giving up, which leads to better psychological health, and eventually better physical health.