Many cancer patients know that along with ongoing treatment comes a lot of waiting.
So once a week, a Calgary woman volunteers at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre to keep people entertained with a craft cart.
Sandy Ottewell has everything in the cart, from paper and crayons, to plasticine and wool.
Ottewell is an art therapist who began considering the idea of an art cart about 20 years ago.
She began thinking about it when her then nine-year-old son was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She spent a lot of time in waiting rooms and knew then something had to be done.
She says it’s about forgetting “for a while what they are waiting for. They’re waiting for good news, bad news from the doctor, waiting to get treatment”.
The Create While You Wait Program runs one day a week at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
