In case you haven't figured it out...the picture above is a painting of me. It was painted by a little girl that I met during my internship at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Carolina in Greenville, NC. For privacy reasons, I'll call her "Little K".
Little K was hospitalized for a little over thirty days during my internship due to complications that she had with her kidney transplant. The thing that made her so special with me, was that she was the first child during my career as a Child Life Specialist that I was able to really build a connection with. Prior to starting my rotation on the General Pediatrics floor, I had completed rotations on all of our outpatient units. Therefore, I was never really able to build long term connections with the children and families I saw. It was more of an in and out type of thing. However, with Little K, I spent three and a half weeks on the unit with her and her family. I was able to spend lots of time working with her and her family and they made such an impact on me personally and professionally.
Little K's last day in the hospital, was also the last day of my internship. It was an exciting time for the both of us, but sad also. We had to say goodbye, but we were both looking forward to what the future held for us. Shortly before it was time for me to leave I was paged to the unit. When I walked on to the floor I was greeted by Little K and her family, and she was holding this painting to give to me. She wrote a really sweet message on the back of the picture and told me that she painted the picture for me, so that I would never forget her.
She is such an amazing little girl. She has been dealing with her illness since she was very young, and now as a teenager she continues to fight. She is so very optimistic about life and about her future. She is truly an inspiration to me which is why I wanted to share this picture with all of you!
~Kels~
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