“L is for Life, Love – and Loss” at Texas Children’s Hospital

By John Graham

November 5th, 2012

On the front page of the Sunday, October 28, 2012 issue of theHouston Chronicle is a deeply touching article by Monica Rhor entitled “L is for life, love and loss” featuring a teacher, Donna Shanklin-Henderson, and her students — chilren who are desperately ill at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH).  Rhor begins her article saying that Shanklin-Henderson begins her day by settling her soul and spirit with prayer and meditation. “She banishes the tiniest pebbles of pessimism and fixes her mind on one abiding thought: ‘All of my students will go home,’ she tells herself, inscribing the belief deep in her core.  ‘They will live happy, healthy lives’.”  {C}{C}

At TCH Shanklin-Henderson walks past “rooms where children battle cancer and brain tumors, leukemia and lupus, diabetes and other diseases with names too tongue-twisting to pronounce.”  Rhor goes on to say, “Inside her classroom where daily miracles coexist with unimaginable losses, Donna Shanklin-Henderson and her two assistances offer hope in the guize of a lesson plan.”  The stody is powerful and memorable.  I strongly urge you to read the full article with photos at http://www.chron.com/default/article/Teachers-bring-school-to-ill-children-s-bedsides-3987406.php