Healing through art at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (KBTX) - Creativity plays a major role at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. From the doctors and researchers continually searching to end childhood cancers, to the patients themselves expressing their feelings through art.

Finding an escape from the treatment and just being a kid, even for a few moments, can be a challenge. However, that’s where expressing their feelings through art plays a part.

As former patient, Madison, who was 19 during her treatment explains, “St. Jude does a lot of art parties and so that was the one thing like the age difference didn’t matter. Like I could sit at a table and paint and color with the little kids and it really didn’t matter. The age difference or any of that and it didn’t really require having a conversation. You know, because what were we going to talk about? Other than the common similarity between us was that we were both sick, but that was something I found a lot of comfort in.”

Art can be seen in many forms around the St. Jude campus in Memphis, Tennessee as murals to pieces line the research building and hospital walls.

“Getting to interact with the kids like that and also like just having art because I could talk about it, but there’s only so much you want to talk about it,” Madison said. “At some point, you just want to pretend that you’re normal and St. Jude does a really good job of giving you those experiences that allow you to maintain your normalcy and your individuality.”

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