HAIFA, Israel (Press Release)–Shaked Tzafrir, 14, has been fighting cancer for three years. She has found a creative way to battle her illness-via art. Each time she stays for treatment at the Rambam Health Care Center here, Shaked gets her creative energy up and running-decorating her room, her bed…and all around-to create as positive environment.
Her father explains that the longer her hospital stay, the more energy she invests in her decorating projects. Her most recent project is to paint cardboard bed pans, bringing humor into dark situations. Shaked shares, “When people come into the room there is a different atmosphere. They ask me first about the drawing and not about the disease. They don’t see all the tubes and machines, just the art.”
Shaked’s mother, a well-known cake decorator, is always encouraging her daughter to find new ways of expressing herself. Mother and daughter are currently working together on a book that will include rhymes and pictures of creatively decorated cakes.
Prof. Ben Arush, Head of the Pediatric Hemato-oncology Department where Shaked is hospitalized, shares “Creativity has a positive impact on dealing with cancer. Children must often be hospitalized for a long time and it is not easy for them. We encourage them to do whatever makes them happy and feel better. Shaked is a lovely little girl and we encourage her to create; it brings light into our department and makes everyone around her happy.”
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Preceding provided by Rambam Health Care Center