BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Cancer patients received some extra support Wednesday from the Veterans Elementary School students.
5th grade students decided to make cards for cancer patients this Christmas to help them push through their challenging time, “We are handing out cookies, hot coco and we are giving them letters to just will comfort them," 11-year-old Fifth grade student Max Bolin said.
After hearing about their teacher’s battle with breast cancer many wanted to spread words of encouragement, “I personally have a history of cancer so it kind of opened the door to communication about what it's like to spread kindness to people who are affected by a tragic situation,” Veterans Elementary Fifth Grade teacher Mrs. Gonzales said.
Many of Gonzales students also saw the impact that cancer had on their families too, which they said made the cards even more special for them, "My sister actually had Leukemia when she was two and she had to get treatment for three years," 10-year-old Fifth grade student Cheyanne Shelton said. "It was like a toll on our family and really it just kind of you don't know what would happen next," Bolin said.
Gonzales said that during her battle with breast cancer it was not easy to be a full time mother of two, while fighting the disease, but that cards like this made all of the difference in her journey, "Absolutely, absolutely yea you know going through my journey I found it therapeutic to discuss what was going on in my life and to focus on the positive instead of the negative. Through that process of doing that it became like a necessary tool for overcoming the disease and so it's something I like to share with the kids that just a simple act of kindness a compliment, suggestion and offer to help you know a warm greeting can be just what a cancer patient needs to you know to fight the fight."
Gonzales and her students gave 60 handwritten cards of encouragement and positivity, along with hot coco and cookies to cancer patients of the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center(CBCC).
"This is unbelievable these children that have come down here to support the cancer patients and the facility it's just truly amazing and it's a true blessing and it's an encouragement for the people who are still battling cancer right now," cancer patient Scott Hodges said. Many of the cancer patients like Hodges also said that the cards of generosity are helpful reminders to keep pushing through the hard times and that it made their day, "Well it made me smile," another cancer patient said while holding a card and hot chocolate.
Hodges said that the cards also help them focus on the good instead of the bad things during the holidays, “You betcha you know any kind of encouragement is truly a blessing to the cancer patients, to myself seeing this it's just wonderful that we have that support you know for us."
Bolin also said he enjoyed being a part of a positive impact on someone’s life this Christmas, "Good inside! it makes me feel like I've done something."
Students also said that through making Christmas cards for CBCC patients they were able to learn a valuable lesson about giving to others during Christmas time. "To be kind and it could affect other people and make them feel better," Brolin said. “We can give it to different people and make their days better because it obviously made these people happier," Shelton said.
If you would like to send a cancer patient a card you can simply contact CBCC at 661-322-2206
