Once upon a time

At the tender age of 6, my nephew Felipe, was diagnosed with Leukemia. At that time we did not know exactly how serious, and to what extent, the disease would take its toll on our family, during twelve years of hospitalization and sadness, interspersed with frayed hopes.
Many a time during the chemotherapy sessions, I tried my very best to alleviate his pain with a myriad of distractions, but not knowing exactly how. Neither puppets nor jokes were to any avail. Finally, Felipe quietly returned home from whence he came.
Not too long after, I met a group of volunteer storytellers who would visit hospitals on a regular basis to read selected short stories to the kids in the ICU and wards. This was and is a really wonderful manner to meaningfully help those children who had lost hope and the light of their lives, while lying on a lonely hospital bed, far away from their friends, family and loving pets.
Therefore, I immediately grasped the chance of joining the group, and underwent the full three month training period and qualified as a volunteer storyteller. At graduation I got my cherished colored coat to blend in with the medical staff at hospitals.
For the last ten years I have looked forward to my weekly visit to a local hospital, with the expectation of being able to extent this truly noble task of spreading joy. Their smiles and laughter are priceless rewards, when I feel that I have selected the right book from my funny satchel, thus filling my soul with joy and contentment.
To celebrate a decade of the project CONTA MAIS, which translates to “tell me more”, an illustrated book was compiled and published with many of the wonderful moments that the members of our group encountered, entitled “Stories, a medicine that does not hurt”. Members of our group sell copies to better our cause. In future posts, I will be sharing each story with the community.