What does courage look like?
At Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, it's more than just a question.
Faces of Courage is a program hosted in collaboration with Hilltop Artists, “a group that uses glass art to connect young people from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds to better futures.”
Patients at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital are invited to draw what courage looks like to them. Then, members of Hilltop Artists turn those drawings into fused glass art to be displayed in the hospital.
Chehalis resident Tabitha Kimmet’s submission to the program was recently put on display. Tabitha, 14, was at Mary Bridge for chronic pain in her back last year, according to her mother, Sandra Kimmet.
Every day during her hospital stay, Child Life Services specialists and volunteers came in to give Tabitha activities, crafts and games to pass the time.
She was also encouraged to walk around the loop on the hospital floor, where she saw the Faces of Courage display.
“On the wall, there were glass faces with a Faces of Courage label. The Child Life team brought Tabitha a Faces of Courage entry form,” Sandra Kimmet said. “Tabitha spent a lot of time thinking of what courage meant to her.”
Tabitha decided that, to her, courage takes the form of a turtle.
“She came up with the idea of a turtle because they’re strong and fearless,” Sandra Kimmet said. “She wanted to put ‘you've got this!’ around the turtle.”
Over the last year, Tabitha was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic osteoporosis, a condition that makes her bones brittle and easily broken. She has started infusions of medicine that puts a protective layer around the bones to strengthen them.
When she had to return to the hospital, she would always walk around the floor to see if her Faces of Courage submission was chosen.
Last week, Tabitha and her family got a call back from Child Life Services telling them that her project had been finished.
On Wednesday, May 21, Tabitha got to visit the hospital and see her Faces of Courage submission on display, as well as meet some of the members of Hilltop Artists who created it. According to the supervisor of the students who made Tabitha's design, it took a day or two to create.
“When I heard that Tabitha's face was chosen, I was thrilled,” Sandra Kimmet said. “This last year has been very hard for Tabitha. She has had to undergo lots of therapy, appointments and procedures. This program celebrates courage. Tabitha exudes courage in all that she does. She faces each new diagnosis, treatment, therapy and procedure with stride. It means the world to her that her work was chosen and her face of courage is on display for all the children to see when they are walking the halls of Mary Bridge.”