Today in Beirut (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
I spent today where I spend every Sunday–with the children at St. Jude in Beirut. After playing many spirited games of peek-a-boo with a developmentally-disabled toddler in the playroom, I joined an energetic five-year-old in her hospital bed to play tic tac toe–or, as she calls it, the “xo game.” Later, when I asked her if she wanted to draw, she said, “Yes–but I only draw hearts.” After she drew a few hearts on my hand, she decorated my face with Strawberry Shortcake stickers–and taught me the word in Arabic for “rainbow.”
When it was getting time for me to leave, she stood up in her bed and pointed to the chemo dispenser and heart monitor attached to her IV stand. “Look!” she said. “This is Baxter.” I didn’t know what she meant, until I read the name of the medical supply company affixed to the machine. “Baxter,” she said, “shows everyone here my heart.”
To make an online donation to support the cancer treatment of my young friends in Beirut, please click here.
