A Few Brave Stories From Randal Children’s Hospital

From Dianne, The Child Life Specialist at Randal Children’s Hospital:

Hi Gary,
I  have some stories that I wanted to share with you.
Last week I had a 8 yr. old girl come in for prep for her surgery.  She came in with her grandmother and 14 year old sister.  She seemed very nervous and the 14 year old sister was so anxious she held onto her grandmother’s arm through the whole tour. The patient had ADD, PTSD, (I am not clear on what kind of traumatic stress she has had in her life but I do know she was in protective custody with her grandmother). She also had a bit of a speech impediment so was kind of hard to understand. When I told her the Brave Bot story and gave her the one to keep, she read the whole story out loud put it back in the box and handed it to her grandmother and said, “Hold on to this.  I don’t EVER want to lose it!”  When she got back from surgery I went to see her and the Brave Bot was beside her on her pillow.

I had another patient that was coming for surgery and after giving her the Brave Bot, the mom said, “I think I am going to cry that is sooo nice of him to make those for the kids!”  Sure enough she had tears in her eyes and her daughter had the biggest smile.  Such a great tension reliever!

Teenagers are a touch bunch to get through to when they are faced with having a surgery that they do NOT want to have.  The Bots have managed to get a few smiles.  They really like that they are numbered and signed by you.
Thanks again for your hard work and inspiration to the kids,
Dianne