Flashes of hope

A special lens into the lives of terminally ill kids

April 13, 2010

As Jews, we say a prayer for the sick called a “misheh-beirach.” We pray for the health of our family, friends, and Jews throughout the world. In various prayers, we thank God for our own health and well-being.

Many people are not fortunate to have their health, and some of them are young children. I had the chance to meet some of these children by volunteering with an organization called Flashes of Hope, a nonprofit that creates uplifting portraits of young people with terminal illnesses.

I woke up one foggy morning last May and drove with my dad and stepmom to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut, founded and endowed by Paul Newman for children with cancer and other serious illnesses. All I knew about the day ahead was that I would serve as my dad’s photography assistant.

When we arrived, we saw something out of a movie. The fog was just fading so we could see trees, mountains, a lake, and a giant tree house in the distance.

The camp appeared deserted, but after some searching, we found the woman in charge. She told us to go to the dining hall and eat something if we wanted.

We went to the dining hall and started talking to people. We learned this camp is specifically for children with chronic and sometimes life-threatening diseases, including leukemia and sickle cell anemia. Kids come for a week or two, and the camp runs weekend programs for kids and their families.

We set up our photo shoot on the porch of the game room, looking out to a background of trees and mountains. We were to take portraits; perhaps some of the last photographs that would be taken of these children.

That realization hit me hard. Some of the kids we were about to photograph were likely to die in the next few months. We were there to take their final portraits.

Families started to arrive, some with as many as four kids. At first, I couldn’t tell the sick kids from their healthy siblings. The children we photographed looked happy, energetic. Then, I started to look more closely.

I saw kids that looked a little paler and thinner than their brothers and sisters.

Yet they were in the moment, able to have fun.

They amazed me.

I spent one day taking pictures that made all the difference to these families. They are pictures that will preserve an image, but more importantly, a spirit; they will preserve a child a family loves, and misses.

Adina Wells, 17, attends Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union and is a member of Nu’s teen board.

The Mishehbeirach Prayer

May the One who blessed our ancestors —
Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah —
bless and heal
_________ son/daughter of __________.

May the Holy Blessed One
overflow with compassion upon him/her,
to restore him/her,
to heal him/her,
to strengthen him/her,
to enliven him/her.

The One will send him/her, speedily,
a complete healing —
healing of the soul and healing of the body —
along with all the ill,
among the people of Israel and all humankind,
soon,
speedily,
without delay,
and let us all say: Amen!

—Translation from myjewishlearning.com