The epigraph of a children’s book caught my eye: Even during adversity, keep dreaming. My survivorship work focuses on healthy ways to deal with illness, one of which is to find reality-based hopes. Is there a place for dreaming in the pursuit of Healthy Survivorship?
Yes! I was reminded of this after reading Tracy Ahrens’ illustrated children’s book, Come With Me.
The story opens with Kate inviting young (3-5 years old) readers to join her on a magical flight. “Like birds with soft feathers, wide wings and a breeze, you’ll weave swiftly up and down through the branches of trees.” The book ends with Kate back in bed, smiling after her dream-adventure.
Joyful magical dreams can be a healthy way to escape chronic pain, debility or distress. Like the energizing, uplifting feeling that persists for a while after getting off an exhilarating amusement-park ride, you can savor having experienced a magical time of freedom and power. Those real feelings can help recharge your emotional batteries for dealing with real challenges, even though generated by a dream.
The story behind this storybook is a dream come true, too. While author Tracy was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, she felt inspired by the social media posts of Kate Amato. Kate was a cheerful, spunky, fiesty Healthy Survivor who embraced life until her death at 11 years old.
Ahrens donates the proceeds from Come With Me to the Kate Amato Foundation, whose mission is “finding safer, smarter and more effective treatments for children with cancer.”
Thank you, Tracy, for encouraging us all to dream and for helping make dreams come true of finding safer, less toxic, more therapies for pediatric cancer.
Kate Amato, a Healthy Survivor throughout her illness
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