When Queanbeyan teacher Meg Rees couldn't find a suitable resources to gently explain to her students why one of their classmates was sick and losing her hair with cancer treatment, she decided to write her own children's book.
The resulting picture book, When Someone You Love is Sick, was launched in Queanbeyan, with local charity Win the Day inviting its ambassador Jasmine Stefanovic along for the launch.
The resulting picture book, When Someone You Love is Sick, was launched in Queanbeyan, with local charity Win the Day inviting its ambassador Jasmine Stefanovic along for the launch.
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00:00 So my inspiration with the story, When Someone You Love Is Sick, was inspired by a little
00:04 girl that I taught when I had a kindergarten class back in 2021.
00:07 She was diagnosed with a stage four Wilms tumour.
00:10 That meant a lot of time away from school, having treatment in Sydney, coming back to
00:15 school quite sick, without any hair, and lots of five and six year olds that had plenty
00:19 of questions that I found difficult to answer.
00:21 So I was looking in local libraries and local bookstores and online trying to find something
00:26 that I could use to explain it to them, and I couldn't find too much that was very child
00:32 friendly.
00:33 So I decided to write something for her, which is completely inspired by her.
00:38 The book isn't about her, it can be read to anyone that's got someone in their life going
00:42 through cancer, but it's inspired by Kylie.
00:46 So the story, When Someone You Love Is Sick, it's quite a gentle rhyming story.
00:50 I was a little bit sceptical at first.
00:52 Rhyming is a very fun way to read and write and cancer is obviously not something fun
00:56 to have in your life.
00:59 So I decided to, I was pretty mindful of how I wrote it.
01:03 It's quite simple, to the point, and just gently explains to young children, if they've
01:08 got someone in their life, what things might be happening to them, or what things could
01:11 be happening to the child, or what things they can do to help that family or that young
01:16 person get through those tricky times.
01:20 I just got involved with a charity about a year ago, because Christy and I have known
01:24 each other for a long time.
01:26 And to hear her babies being sick with cancer was devastating and I wanted to do anything
01:33 I could to help her and this cause, which also helps the carers, which is so nice.
01:39 I think it hits home a lot more too when you have your own children and you just couldn't
01:44 imagine them being sick.
01:45 And then having to explain to little kids when someone is sick, I'm sure that's really
01:50 tough.
01:51 And so this is such a beautiful idea to help kids get their head around someone they love
01:57 being sick.
01:58 So I think it's a beautiful sentiment.
02:00 [Music]
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