Monday, July 30, 2007

Chemotherapy Patients Could Use Your Books

man reading in a doctor's waiting room; woman's coat on the next chair

The following is someone's very personal story regarding book donations. I'm reprinting it with permission from a Yahoo! group, but the author wished to remain anonymous.

My mother died of cancer in 2005 after thirteen months of treatment. During that time we went three out of four weeks to the hospital to get her blood done, then we waited another hour for the doctor or nurse and then the chemo. It was most of the day as it was for all of the chemo patients.

In the chemo waiting room there were book shelves of books for the patients and their family members to read. They were well used. One day I came in with a huge bag of books to bring to the chemo room. We were waiting for the blood work and a woman in a wheel chair who I saw frequently started talking. She said, "Reading keeps me going. I read a book a day." I asked if she wanted to look through my bag. She kept all but a couple and said as soon as she read them she would leave them upstairs.

As she got wheeled in to the exam room the nurse said, "Wow, you have a lot of books!" and she replied "Yes, this is just like Christmas today."

Don’t forget hospitals, rehabs and cancer centers. I can’t tell you what a difference it makes enduring the unendurable.


[photo by Rich Mason]

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