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 [...]

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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. [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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My Time at the Center

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

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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 [...]

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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+ [...]

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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. [...]

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What I Wish I Knew

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

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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 [...]

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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. [...]

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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 [...]

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My Why

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

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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…. [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Bridging Gaps in Healthcare

My name is Amy Neumann and I have been a nurse for 15 years. I started my career in 2005 as a bedside nurse in [...]

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Not Alone in this Journey

My name is Mary Marek and my family has hit the “jackpot” twice in the last three years. My oldest, Lily, was diagnosed with coarctation of the [...]

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The Empty-Nester

After working for Mary Free Bed in pediatrics without kids of my own, I always wished I had held that job as a parent. I [...]

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A Place of Healing

Tell me what you think is the success of our future? Name one thing more important than anything else. My confidence in this answer is [...]

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Amidst the Chaos

Shortly after my daughter’s Neuroblastoma diagnosis nearly 10-years ago, I was grappling with how, and if, we would come out the other side. [...]

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Friends By Heart

The Children’s Healing Center is for kids. It’s in the name. When I started attending story times and movement classes with my son, I expected [...]

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A Post Treatment Future

As you may have noticed in our newsletters and recent communication, I have a new surname. [...]

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