FOR MOEBIUS MOMS AND DADS
So has your child with Moebius had to spend some time in a hospital?  I know for some of you, that's definitely the case.  And it may be the case in the future.  I can remember several hospital stays for me when I was a child--mainly I was there to have some operations on my club feet.  And often, hospital stays are tough--both for the parents, and for the child having to stay there and be away from the comforts of home.  But I found this piece today, and maybe this could be of help to your child sometime-you might call it art therapy:
"The courageous lion has nothing on Ethan Puhalsky.
The 7-year-old from Norton, Ohio, bravely endures countless tests, treatments and lengthy hospital stays as he battles leukemia.
So when he had the chance to work with an artist during one of his many stays at Akron Children’s Hospital, it’s only fitting that he decided to paint a portrait of his favorite stuffed lion.
Ethan’s piece is one of 34 works of art that went on display in the Gallery of Strength art show at Akron Children’s Hospital’s Emily Cooper Welty Expressive Therapy Center.
Each painting, drawing and digital artwork in the one-day art show was made by a patient at Children’s.
For Ethan, painting allows him to be a normal kid, not a cancer patient who’s often trapped in a hospital room.
“Maybe next time I’m in the hospital we can do a puppy or panda,” Ethan said enthusiastically.
“He has no problems coming to the hospital because of things like this,” added his father, Brian Puhalsky. “It’s really a great program for them, just to break the days up.”
The Gallery of Strength is the culmination of a yearlong, $16,000 grant from the Livestrong Foundation that allowed Kent State University doctoral student Emily Dennis, 27, of Akron, Ohio, to serve as the hospital’s artist-in-residence.
During the past year, Dennis spent nine hours a week helping patients express themselves by drawing, painting and creating artwork on iPads.
“The goal was to bring the arts to health care and introduce the arts,” she said.
Dennis became interested in art therapy nine years ago when her father was battling cancer.
“I was coping with that by drawing,” she said. “That’s how I expressed myself. It was an outlet for me. It was taking all that anxiety and putting it into a visual form and getting it out of my head.”
Her personal experience encouraged her to earn a master’s degree in art therapy. She’s now pursuing a doctoral degree in counseling.
Although the goal of the yearlong art program at Children’s wasn’t necessarily therapeutic, “it’s hard to deny there’s therapy going on,” she said.
At first glance, for instance, the whimsical creatures with toothy grins in one of the paintings displayed in the Gallery of Strength appear lighthearted and fun.
But for the artist who created the piece, Dennis said, the colorful beasts represent personal monsters: serious, frightening medical problems.
“These were her monsters and these were what she was dealing with,” Dennis said. “The artwork was her way of externalizing these internal fears.”

Maybe your hospital doesn't have a program like this.  But still--maybe you can encourage your child to color, to draw, to engage in some activities that will give an outlet for his or her energy and calm any fears...


“No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams. ”
Jesse  Jackson (born 1941