Creative Cole Book

In the spring of 2014, I introduced my students to a 5-year-old kindergartner who has struggled with a growth defect.  Since his birth he has been missing a soft spot in the front of his skull. At 10 months of age, in 2008, he had surgery at Lurie Children’s Hospital to remove the skull, create the soft spot, and put him back together, reshaping his head in the process. Unfortunately he contracted an infection in the skull during that surgery, he and his family endured a long, almost month-long hospital stay. He was sent home with an IV port in his arm so his mother could administer antibiotics from a portable pump 4 times each day for several weeks. He wore a custom helmet 23 hours a day for several months to hold the shape of his skull, and also protect his head during the healing process. He enjoyed his toddler years, but always had to wear a bike-helmet during any physical activity due to the gaps in his skull the surgeons left for growth. Over the past few years it became clear that the skull was not completely closing where it was put back together, so at 6.5 years of age in June of 2014, he went back into surgery at Lurie Children’s Hospital to have the surgeons insert 3 plates over the skull to protect his wonderful creative brain. It was during this last hospital experience that my graduate students and I created a book of whimsical drawings for him to use for creative writing or sketching during his recovery.  The book was successful in many ways: he spent quiet time recovering and enjoying the images and writing creative stories related to the images and it sparked our goal to reach out in a creative venue to children at Lurie Hospital who must endure lengthy recoveries due to illness. 

Through this project we want to accomplish the following: enhance and recognize the creative abilities of all children as an aid to their healing process; and contribute to number of children who will spend their summer months in the hospital as they recover from long term illnesses. With your generous support, we hope to raise $2000 to ensure that each child at Lurie Hospital can experience the healing power of art and creative writing by having their very own Creative Cole Book. 

Sincerely,
Dr. Anne Becker
MAT Art Education Graduate Students
Columbia College Chicago