MEMBERSHIP // MEMBER STORIES

Storybook Blog

Fieldwork Intern Fun

My name is Lex Russ, and I joined the center in November of 2020. I started off volunteering on Monday nights after being encouraged to [...]

24
Sep

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Hi Everyone! My name is Clare DeVeau and I am one of the Pediatric Oncology Social Workers at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. [...]

10
Sep

My Program to Program Administrator

Hello! My name is Ella Beckett and I’ve been involved with the Children’s Healing Center in a variety of ways over the past four and [...]

27
Aug

Mental Health Awareness

Hello! I’m Laura Luchies, and I’m the Associate Director of Calvin University’s Center for Social Research. I have been the research and evaluation partner for [...]

30
Jul

My Time at the Center

Hello! My name is Emily Miller and I joined the Children’s Healing Center in December of 2020. [...]

16
Jul

My Experience as a Program Intern

It’s me, Annalisa Lascoe. A sucker for adventure and the finer things in life. I’m just an ordinary young adult who is learning and growing [...]

14
May

Ins and Outs of a Program

For 18 years I taught 3 and 4-year old’s in a preschool classroom. Averaging 30 kids a year that would mean I’ve worked with 360+ [...]

23
Apr

Opening New Doors to Good. Clean. Fun.

At the Children’s Healing Center, knowing how to have fun and help children heal through the power of play is what we do best. [...]

26
Mar

What I Wish I Knew

What I wish I knew before cancer treatment that I know now. [...]

15
Mar

Strength In Sports

Hi, my name is Andrea Shaner, and I’ve been a committee member at the Center for a couple of years now. When I first became [...]

26
Feb

Q&A with Intern Rachel Traxler

I am currently a senior at Western Michigan University graduating this spring with my bachelor’s in Child and Family Development. [...]

26
Feb

Overwhelmingly Grateful

As I sat on the floor in the fitness area of the Children’s Healing Center, I was overcome with feelings of immense gratitude observing the [...]

12
Feb

My Why

My name is Patrick O’Brien and I have been volunteering at the Children’s Healing Center for the past four months. [...]

29
Jan

Healthy Habits

Hi, everyone! My name is John Kopec, and I act as a consulting physician for CHC. Some of you may know me from HDVCH, where [...]

15
Jan

These Kids Are Heroes

When I played basketball at Michigan State, I had the honor of meeting several children who were battling cancer. It always struck me that they [...]

18
Dec

A Ray of Sunshine

My name is Amanda Cohen, I am a student at Grand Valley State University with hopes to become a Certified Child Life Specialist (eventually). I [...]

04
Dec

A Better Version of Myself

My name is Taylor Wilson. Over the course of a year, I had the opportunity to fulfill different roles at Children’s Healing Center. It was [...]

20
Nov

My Normal

If you had asked me what I imagined high school to be like when I was a kid, my answer would not even come close [...]

06
Nov

An Interview with Teen Member, Jed Rose

I am 13 years old. I enjoy going sailing with my family and being outdoors. Right now actually, we are at the Sleeping Bear Dunes [...]

16
Oct

The Meaning of Friendship

Our names are both Kaitlyn. We are High School volunteers at the Children’s Healing Center. When asked by the Center to write a blog post [...]

02
Oct

Adaptability, Learning, and Growth

Hi! My name is Laurel, and I had the pleasure of being the Program Intern at the Children’s Healing Center this summer. This summer was [...]

25
Sep

Leadership Lessons

My name is Kate McCartney and I was a summer intern at Children’s Healing Center under Cheryl Raguse. I am going into my senior year [...]

11
Sep

Finding Purpose

Purpose. It’s a word that we hear a lot and something that we might spend our entire lives searching for. Like so many others I [...]

28
Aug

More Unknown

Three years ago in July my daughter Kate wrote a blog post titled ‘More Unknown.’ She had just had a bone marrow biopsy and learned [...]

14
Aug

Isolation, Uncertainty, and Fear is Our Every Day

While the outside world adjusts to this ‘new normal,’ not much has changed at the Center. We have been utilizing the recommended screening and cleanliness [...]

31
Jul

My Brother’s Legacy

Hi, my name is Mike Copeland. I am a Patient Advocate for the Sickle Cell Disease Association – MI Chapter (SCDAAMI). When I was asked [...]

10
Jul

The Healing Power of Art

In early 1999 I was looking for something “fun” to do, and maybe to earn a little extra money. So when my sister told me [...]

26
Jun

The Best Place to Have Fun

Today, my daughter’s physician asked me, “How do you envision your daughter’s death?” Let that sink in for a minute…. [...]

12
Jun

Insightful Internship

I came across the Center by accident. My university, Grand Valley, had shared the internship posting on their social media and it just happened to [...]

29
May

Funbusters

“My name is Liz Greer and I am the Volunteer Coordinator for the Children’s Healing Center. In addition to my work at the CHC, I [...]

15
May

The Power of Believing in Someone

“He believed in you and what you do at the Center.” Those were the words Randi Wilson said to me when I arrived at the [...]

17
Apr

Inclusive Friendships

Hi, my name is Mary Prindle. I am a 13 year old and a member at the Center. I have two incurable diseases [...]

10
Apr

Dodgeball or Jam Session?

If you could go back to your teen years, what would you change?. Teens are like squirrels (too indecisive to pick a direction). Not yet [...]

27
Mar

From Member Grandma to Volunteer

My name is Jan Burgers and my connection with The Children’s Healing Center began with a leukemia diagnosis for my little granddaughter, Becca, when she [...]

13
Mar