Legacy Tree Offers Cancer Center Patients Hope, Support

  • Published
  • By Gina Marie Giardina
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  There is a tree growing just inside the doors of the Cancer Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center, but this tree isn't any ordinary tree.

The Legacy Tree, a tree painted by Alexis Joseph, then an administrative technician at the medical center, is growing in the hearts of all the patients of the center. 

According to the American Cancer Society, no two people with cancer are alike and each person has his or her own way of coping with their illness.

There are a plethora of emotions that people experience, including shock, fear, guilt, anger, and grief.

Feeling alone is another emotion often felt and a group of staff members at the medical center's Cancer Center set out nearly a year ago to help remedy the loneliness--if even just a little.

The Legacy Tree began as just an idea to help patients deal with these emotions--an idea to give a little extra hope to those going through their cancer treatments and also to reassure them that they were not alone.

"The primary reason we wanted to start this project is so our patients wouldn't feel so alone," said Cynthia Habegger, a registered nurse at the medical center. "The patients who come in for treatment could look up on the tree and see that there were others fighting this illness too."

This has been an ongoing project; we started thinking and planning this about a year ago, said Joseph.

"This idea came during one of our support groups," said Habegger. "We were painting smaller trees and some of the ladies suggested that we make a larger tree for everyone."

Thumbprints, which represent leaves, hang from each branch and each thumbprint belongs to a patient of the center who has reached a goal in their treatment.  These goals, whether short- or long-term, are set by each patient.

"We have patients who have come back long after their treatment was over just so they could add their thumbprint to the tree," said Senior Airman Kyleigh Wilcox, a facilitator at the medical center.

Habegger explained that the family members of those who did not make it through their treatment have also come back to add thumbprints in memory of their loved ones.  

To a passer-by, the Legacy Tree might appear to be just a painting of a tree. To the patients of the center, it represents much more.