On Friday, my phone was flooded in the best way: dozens of photographs of Palliative Care champions:children, parents and healthcare providers all wearing fantastical hats and the biggest smiles.
The thing that struck me most was that the most prominent emotion I felt when looking at those pictures was absolute joy.
When discussing palliative care with friends, family, and colleagues, joy is generally not the assumed emotion when talking about this topic.
And yet, it is while working with children with life-limiting illnesses, that I have experienced the most tangible joy and love. Palliative Care is terribly difficult, and your heart will break. Still, I have come to learn that there really is great beauty in the brokenness and a genuine, inexplicable joy and love in the hearts of both the palliative care patients and providers. There is a special appreciation of life and the significance of milestones and victories, from the big to the seemingly small. Paediatric palliative care specifically challenges conventional definitions of what constitutes a life well-lived, which is often measured in years or achievements. In my experience in palliative care, I have been challenged and encouraged to rather measure this in love and joy. I am convinced that many of the children leave this earth heartbreakingly too soon, experience a fullness of life and greater depth of love and joy than some adults in their old age.
And this is why palliative care is so incredibly valuable and necessary. To alleviate the suffering of a child to enable them to experience the important things in life is a terribly difficult but oh so important calling.
It was a privilege to share in the joy of Hats on For CPC Day, and I am encouraged and inspired to continue spreading the word and raising awareness, and to be a part of such an important cause.
