Gage Davidson, 9, has a terminal form of leukemia, but Friday morning he was all smiles, clutching a stuffed lion and singing songs at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
The Unlimited Courage Foundation, created by John Ramming with the help of volunteers, is on a mission to provide critically ill, abused and traumatized children with a “courage lion” named Duffy to “facilitate communication and engender hope,” Ramming said.
Ramming said the program began as a research project with the Child Life Care Team at Johns Hopkins in January 2005. Within 16 months, the program grew into a strategy to help boost the confidence and calm the fears of struggling children.
“I?m a dad and certainly have seen when children become sick or scared, they just clam up,” Ramming said.
The stuffed lion was made with longer legs to cover its eyes and ears or point to painful areas of the body. By using the lion as a prop,scared children can convey their own concerns to doctors.
Shannon Minton-Joslin, Child Life manager at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children, said the lions “can be used to develop rapport and foster more communication about what they?re experiencing.”
Duffy also comes with a book and DVD, both entitled “Courage Pockets,” which tell his story.
Ramming said the “courage sets” will be given to every child in the hospital and kept at the staff?s disposal for future patients.
The sets will also be carried onboard Medevac helicopters and given to the National Guard?s chaplains and medical personnel for children of critically injured soldiers, he said.
The foundation donated the first lions at Johns Hopkins and will travel to other major hospitals in the area including the Sinai Hospital and the Children?s National Medical Center in Washington.
Gage?s mother, Jennifer Daneker, was appreciative of the program.
“When you?re sick and you?re small, you just accept it,” she said. “But now that he?s older, he has questions and he?s more scared.”
Gage joined in the sing-along and made Duffy dance, but others couldn?t keep their eyes open. Four-month-old Cameron McFarland held his lion and slept through the “fuzzy wuzzy yellow security” song.
According to Ramming, the program is personally rewarding.
“The joy and the courage these children give to us is 1,000-fold anything we could give back to them,” he said.
Courage Lions
For more information about courage lions contact:
Courage Unlimited Corp.
P.O. Box 3606, Glyndon, Md. 21071, 410-584-7273
