Kesa's Story

Like most of the girls, I felt incredibly overwhelmed after our first visit to the hospital. I remember thinking that the job might be too much for me to handle. But then I remembered that difficult situations are simply disguised opportunities to learn and grow.
Within the first few visits I began to feel more and more comfortable in our wing of the hospital. We work in the oncology ward of the hospital where children come to stay for several weeks while the are receiving treatment for cancer. I no longer felt overwhelmed, simply anxious - anxious to help and inspired by the strength of the kids. I think the most difficult part about being in the hospital was not the kids, per se, but observing the exhaustion and worry on the faces of their parents. For weeks on end they hold vigil at the bedside of their sick child; not able to go to work; and getting deeper and deeper in debt – while watching their child endure painful treatments day in and day out. All in hopes that they might eventually see their child be able to live like a normal kid.
During my initial visits, there was one boy who stood out. His name was Oscar and he was eleven years old. The first time I met him he was recovering from a treatment they had administered moments before. I wanted to help because I had seen how painful the medicine can be, but I knew there was nothing I could really do but let him rest. The next day I came back and found they had moved him into a different room. There was no one else in the room but his mother, so I asked if he wanted to play a game and we ended up playing Battleship for the entire day. I couldn’t do much, but I went home that night knowing that I had helped make him happy for a short time. And, I had made a friend. For the next few weeks we enjoyed each others company and continued to play games together. Then one day he was simply gone. I was worried he had gotten worse – but the nurse assured me he had just gone home in between treatments. I was relieved and thought how wonderful it must be for him to be well enough to leave the hospital and go home to wrestle with his older brothers and sleep in his own bed. It also made me realize, that Oscar had given me much more than I gave to him. And even though I can’t do a lot to end the suffering, I can make these kids smile and help them to forget they are sick. Even if it’s just for a little while. And maybe that’s enough.
I didn’t get to say goodbye to Oscar and I probably will never know the rest of his story. I hope it ends the way I’d like to think it will. And now, at the end of each day, I am so grateful for the opportunity that Fundacion por Una Vida has given me to experience even a small piece of these kid’s lives – regardless of what the outcome may end up to be.
-Kesa Sovulewski