Breast cancer, in the hospital there is a magical garden for the patients’ children
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This story takes place in Catania and begins in 2020, during the pandemic, when the Medical Oncology department of the Cannizzaro Hospital is relocated and reorganized due to the health emergency. But during the move Giusy Scandurra – who directs that department and who deals with female cancers – has an intuition: the uncultivated courtyard of the hospital can be transformed into a place to welcome the children of those in care. This is how the Magic Garden was born: a place of sharing where the little ones are welcome. Where people have fun, play, take care of the plants, organize performances and treasure hunts. Even if you are in a hospital. The story of those special moments, narrated in the first person by six children, have become a book: an illustrated fairy tale, whose title could only be “The Magic Garden”.
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Open the hospital doors
In reality, Scandurra had the idea of making the hospital an “open” place well before Covid. In the ward, in fact, afternoon meetings were already being organized for the patients’ children. The results in terms of reduction of anxiety in children and, consequently, in parents were evident: “For this reason – says Scandurra – we have continued the initiative, involving those who work in Oncology with their children and their families, and also colleagues from the other hospital units. We have created a place where people participate, human, alive, paradoxically cheerful”.
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Communicate the disease to the little ones
The book, the result of this experience, is a project of Acto Sicilia – Alliance Against Ovarian Cancer with the patronage of the “Cannizzaro” Hospital, and is published by Algra Editore with the non-conditioning support of Seagen. It was written by Scandurra herself, who chose a language suitable for children and full of metaphors, so that it could become a useful tool for parents trying to communicate their illness.
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“The experience of cancer does not only concern the patient, but involves the whole family – writes Scandurra in the introduction of the book -. Often, however, children are given little information, in an attempt to protect them from suffering. However, at any age, children children perceive the changes, the moods, and often in their imagination they elaborate even sadder thoughts than they would have knowing the reality.The hospital, from which they return tired and without the desire to play, is seen as a terrible place. play, being able to be there while mom goes through therapy and in the meantime finding new friends and a supportive community can make a difference for everyone involved.”
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The fairy tales of “The Magic Garden”
To enrich the volume are the animal-themed illustrations by Seby Genovese. Through the short stories we thus know Andrea S. and his mother (represented with the appearance of little dogs); Matilde and her grandmother (two bunnies), playing at finding Easter eggs; Andrea S. and his voluntary parents Acto (transformed into foxes for the occasion); Anastasia, who accompanies her foster mom to a special fashion show, where the models wear turbans; Agata and Giulia, daughters of Scandurra herself and of the Oncology psychologist, who in recent years have found new friends thanks to the Magic Garden.
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Building happy memories
The goal of this experience is to build happy memories. “I am well aware of the limitations of my work and the suffering in oncology wards – says the oncologist – Not all therapies lead to a cure, not all patients return to their former lives. Some children, some families, lose a loved one, everyone goes through a period of fear.The effort we have made, with very practical, simple and concrete actions, is to bring life into the illness and into the ward, to ensure that the children can draw all the possible joy from shared time.Remembering the hospital as a place where we were happy for an egg hunt or a snack – he concludes – where we saw our well-loved mother, is a very different experience from the fear of a place where you cannot enter, which excludes and leaves us alone with our thoughts”.
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