by Ashleigh Sanchez
Daily Lobo
When Katie Beatty's 16-year-old son, John, was diagnosed with bone cancer in August 2002, her family found themselves constantly traveling from a small town outside Farmington to UNM Hospital.
Beatty said reading helped them get through the difficulties of chemotherapy.
"John asked me to read him Beowulf when he was there," she said. "It's a story about fighting a beast, fighting evil. Reading was a means to give him strength and get his mind off it."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Beatty, a children's author, said she realized reading could help other children at UNM Children's Hospital.
So, she created John's Shelf, a program to collect books to give to children in the hospital's Pediatric Infusion Unit.
The program provides a brief respite for children struggling with chronic disease, said Meloney Baty, supervisor of the Child Life Program at the Children's Hospital.
"Books are a wonderful thing for children," Baty said "The patients love the program. It's been
wonderful."
She said the children's infusion center performs about 3,000 chemotherapy and dialysis procedures a year.
The program uses a rolling cart that carries about 150 books,
Beatty said.
"Each time a child comes in for treatment, they can take a book home with them," she said.
Beatty said John's Shelf isn't funded, so it relies on book
donations.
She said she used her contacts as a children's author to stir up interest in the project.
"We had an initial donation from the New Mexico chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators," Beatty said. "They started us out with 800 books."
She said she contacted every school in San Juan County, and several are organizing book drives in November to benefit the
program.
The program accepts children's and adolescents' books in any genre.
Baty said the program has given away about 5,200 books to children since its dedication in July.
Doris Tinagero, director of the Pediatric Infusion Unit, remembers seeing the impact of the program the day it was dedicated.
"There was a little girl whose mother only spoke Spanish," she said. "She picked a book and sat on her mom's lap. You could see the spark, the bonding, as the little girl sailed away on her adventure, leaving everything else behind - just her and her mom."
The program inspired the children at the dedication, Beatty said.
"There were several children there when we dedicated it," she said. "John was there, too. It meant a lot to him."
John, 21, is five years out of diagnosis, and his cancer is in remission. But the trips to Albuquerque are still frequent, Beatty said.
She said the program is designed to help families overcome loneliness and depression while fighting cancer.
"We want to send them love," Beatty said. "Books can open a world for these kids, one not filled with pain and hurt. We want them to know they aren't alone."
Donations to John's Shelf can be mailed to Meloney Baty at 2211 Lomas Blvd., Albuquerque, N.M., 87106.
