A Childs Journey of Hope and Courage

 

 

Imagine being diagnosed with cancer, spending endless hours in hospital with needles and scans, being examined by different doctors and as part of the treatment maybe even having to shift to another city for treatments, leaving home and a part of the family behind. As well as enduring chemotherapy with all the side effects of feeling sick, vomiting, pains, dizzy spells, hair loss, fatigue… and the constant fear “Will I Survive?”

 

Now imagine being 6 or 8 years old and having to go through this. Doesn’t this all sound like too much to handle for anyone, let alone a child…?

 

John* was diagnosed with a brain tumour when 6yrs old, now aged 9yrs old he had been through two surgeries and was undergoing chemo therapy when his mum was introduced to ‘The Journey’ as a way of resolving hurt, trauma and stress in life. She decided they didn’t have anything to lose by trying something different and John was happy to give it a go.

 

When I met John he was a shy boy hiding behind his Mum’s back. He was chronically tired, had frequent headaches and most days was complaining of feeling sick. He hated ‘chemo’ and was scared of needles as well as the claustrophobic MRI scans which often led to tears and tantrums.

 

We started the first session by asking John to imagine that deep inside of him he had a special place which is like a beautiful diamond where there was lots of love and he was safe and happy. This simple concept really makes sense to children and gives themhope and strength – they just accept it as truth!

Then I explained things happen in life like being left out at the playground or falling ill, or having a sick brother or sister and these things cause painful feelings like sadness, being afraid or anger…when we don’t cope well with these feelings they stay in our bodies and start covering up the diamond and that causes things like headaches or feeling ill or just being unhappy…

 

The next step was to use The Journey process to gently take Johnny to a place where he could face some of the painful feelings in a way that he could process them healthily and let them go. What seems to happen is that by doing this gentle process the layers of pain are peeled off this “diamond” and it begins to “shine” again and in this case a session taking only 30 minutes, left John feeling lighter, happier and more confident.

 

After the first journey session his Mum reported that Johnny stopped having headaches and feeling sick, however he was still tired. Even the tiredness eventually dropped away and all physical symptoms subsided except those straight after a chemo treatment.

 

Gradually over a period of 10 months Johnny processed his traumatic past events, the feelings of fear, sadness, self-blame, anger, feeling different to other children and losing friends to cancer. He learned how to express his feelings and that all feelings were ok.

 

John was able to handle the chemo treatments with greater courage, he felt safe when given a needle, he knew how to relax and handle the regular scans better and was more accepting of what was happening and trusting that he was going to be ok. His belief became, that no matter what happened to his body the diamond stayed untouched! He also deeply understood how loved and supported he was.

 

John was still going through incredible challenges, but now he had greater resources and tools to help him deal much better with them. It was amazing to see him mature and become a very confident, happy, robust, and healthy boy. He was truly shining!

 

As a result of this boy’s amazing progress the Child Cancer Foundation agreed to fund Journey sessions for children with cancer as well as their siblings.

 

John is just one of the many examples of people throughout New Zealand who have found they can take on life’s challenges with strength and a healthy, positive outlook when given the tools and a way to let go of pain and hurt.

To find out how Karoline can help you or someone you know call 021 384 155 for a free introductory session.

 

*Name changed to protect privacy