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Chemo Fairies
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More than a million people every year develop some type of cancer. For most patients, either surgery, radiation or chemotherapy is required. Some women in Texas are making cancer treatments just a little more tolerable for their coworkers. Meet the chemo fairies. |
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SCRIPT:
Linda Chapin has worked for the same company in Plano, Texas for more than a decade. Last year, she was diagnosed with cancer and even that didn’t keep her away from the job.
Linda Chapin / Cancer Survivor: “It was the hardest thing I ever had to face.”
Linda’s family and her United Methodist church supported her though prayer and by bringing meals and sending cards.
The Reverend Terri Swan / Stonebridge United Methodist Church, McKinney, TX: “They need love, support, care, they need to have someone to talk to. That’s so very important to the healing process.”
Linda Chapin: “I knew that people were praying for me, that was an enormous amount of strength.”
But Linda was stumped when anonymous cards and gifts started appearing every time she went for her chemotherapy treatments…signed simply by “The Chemo Fairy.” She suspected her family but they quickly denied any involvement.
Gina Burges / Chemo Fairy: “Where did it come from? And that was kind of the idea, you know, what could we do that would also distract her from what was going on and be fun.”
Pam Keenan / Chemo Fairy: “We wanted to do something to lift her spirits on those days so that’s the reason I sent her balloons.”
Linda Chapin: “I never really found out who it was, and it was such a source of, it put a lot of fun into it, it was such a source of inspiration to me.”
For coworker Vicki Bosworth, it was an all too familiar reminder.
Vicki Bosworth / Chemo Fairy: “I had personally gone though something very similar in the same year and I knew it would make a difference to Linda.”
Debbie Steves / Chemo Fairy: “It was just a really neat way to be there for somebody. It just gave me so much pleasure.”
After Linda finished with the successful treatments, four co-workers revealed that they were the ‘chemo fairy.’
Linda Chapin: “It was a big difference.”
Vicki Bosworth: “The amount of strength that you are able to get from others is just beyond words.”
TAG:
Although the Chemo Fairies are hoping no one else needs their services, they are prepared to comfort and surprise other friends and coworkers if the need arises. The women say they are more than coworkers, they are also friends.