FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Recognizing the important role siblings play in the healing process for children battling illnesses, St. Jude hosts a day focused on the brothers and sisters of patients
Newswise — (MEMPHIS, Tenn. – August 5, 2011) When a child is battling cancer or other serious illness, the entire family is affected, including siblings. Recognizing the important role brothers and sisters play in the healing process, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital recently hosted Sibling Star Day, an event dedicated to celebrating the brothers and sisters of St. Jude patients.
The annual event, designed by St. Jude child life specialists and social workers, is filled with activities to commemorate each sibling’s journey through a brother’s or sister’s fight against illness.
“Because parents are overwhelmed and expend their energies providing information, support and comfort to the child who is sick, they sometimes have difficulty providing enough time and attention to siblings,” said Shawna Grissom, director of the Child Life Program at St. Jude. “Siblings can be overlooked.”
St. Jude provides activities and programs that include patients’ brothers and sisters throughout the year, but having a day dedicated to siblings is a distinctive way to shine a spotlight on them.
“When siblings rally around the patients, not only does it aid in the healing process, but it also becomes a coping mechanism for the entire family,” said St. Jude Social Worker Kathy Clayton.
This year’s Sibling Star Day had a “Hollywood” theme. Brothers and sisters began the day with an arts-and-craft activity, making posters with their handprints and listing their own unique characteristics. Siblings then donned sunglasses and boas and walked the red carpet among cheering doctors, nurses and other staff to a luncheon held in their honor. At the luncheon, siblings received trophies, denoting the winning role that each child plays in the life of an ill brother or sister.
St. Jude Children’s Research HospitalSt. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Ranked one of the best pediatric cancer hospitals in the country, St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world, serving as a trusted resource for physicians and researchers. St. Jude has developed research protocols that helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened to almost 80 percent today. St. Jude is the national coordinating center for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. In addition to pediatric cancer research, St. Jude is also a leader in sickle cell disease research and is a globally prominent research center for influenza.
Founded in 1962 by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world, publishing more research articles than any other pediatric cancer research center in the United States. St. Jude treats more than 5,700 patients each year and is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. St. Jude is financially supported by thousands of individual donors, organizations and corporations without which the hospital’s work would not be possible. For more information, go to www.stjude.org.
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