Creative Journal for Brain Tumor Survivors

My name is Seamus Morrison. I’m 24 years old and a 14-year medulloblastoma survivor. This February I had the unique opportunity to facilitate a writing workshop, Poetry For Survival, for the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation. I am grateful for this opportunity and to everyone that attended, as they brought with them the strength and perspective that comes with surviving a brain tumor. This added a whole new dimension to creativity, one of hope. I am privileged to have played a role in creating community, along with amazing CBTF staff members.

This summer I will facilitate this workshop again at Camp-Mak-a-Dream in Goldcreek, Montana, where CBTF has a week-long retreat for young adult brain tumor survivors.

I've created a 70-page, poetry prompt journal for campers filled with quotes and prompts to inspire them.

I have known these campers for more than five years, as a camper myself and now a mentor. During one camp session, I got to know a 15-year-old boy who was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 16 months old. He now has speech and balance difficulties. He participated in the writing workshop and is a brilliant poet. Others have severe facial paralysis, are in wheelchairs, and have memory and developmental difficulties. But no matter how each camper was affected, CBTF provides a lifeline to them and their families. Once a child is diagnosed with a brain tumor, CBTF plays a large role in creating community with opportunities to connect with other survivors through cooking classes, art classes, college workshops, young adult meetings, bereavement programs for families that have recently lost a child, and leading research on brain and spinal cord tumors. One young adult survivor with facial paralysis said that CBTF makes it possible for him to live a normal life. What these survivors have to face every day and the strength they possess inspires me to be a better person. To go through cancer, even with such an amazing community to support you, is painful and brings fear of the unknown. Alongside my loving family, I survived a brain tumor. I was lucky. But for me and other survivors, there are still unknowns, fear, loneliness and moments of hopelessness. At CBTF and Camp-Mak-a-Dream, we never know if our friends and community members will live to meet at camp the next year. But what I do know is that whatever we do, whatever I do for these survivors, will never be enough.

Please help me reach my goal of 1,100 dollars, which will cover the cost of these journals. Every little bit helps make this dream possible. Thank you.

Love,

Seamus