4.5 MONTHS WORTH OF 'DRIVING WILLIAM' WORK
The last time I wrote about my art therapy work with William I believe we had just taken him home for Christmas. Since that time 3.5 months have slipped by and so much has happened in his miraculous rehabilitation and recovery. Because I have a tendency to be so long-winded I've decided to simply write up a list accompanied by more photos/less text. Everyone loves a blog that's short and sweet, to the point, but visually stimulating. Here goes:
January:
William returned to Red Cross with over 35 beautiful pictures and paintings that he had done at home over Christmas break and was incredibly enthusiastic and eager to continue with our art therapy sessions.
Painting with his mouth soon led to painting with his feet and painting on fabric. . .
I continued to work with William and volunteer at Red Cross 5-6 days a week (as opposed to the 1 I was previously doing, as the need and desire with William was so strong). I particularly love Wednesdays in which the children do art therapy with me followed by music therapy with the music therapist. William plays all matter of instruments with his feet and partial limb and has incredible rhythm. The music therapy has also been incredibly powerful for William and I feel lucky that there is both myself and the music therapist working at Red Cross.
We went in to Cosmesis Advanced Prosthetic Studios to get a cast done for the first crude mock-up of prosthetic 1 by Clinton Smith and his devoted team, which was very exciting.
William and I then started swimming in the Red Cross pool almost daily. After just 1 day of practice William had mastered the art of altered swimming and is like a dolphin in the water. He loves to float on his back while singing, play Marco Polo and have races across the pool (I of course can't use my arms to swim, it's only fair) in which he usually wins.
I got permission from the Head of the Burns Unit and Paediatric Surgery to take William on weekly outings outside the hospital. Our first one was to the South African National Circus with 2 other lovely Red Cross volunteers who also became quite fond and close with William during their time in Cape Town.
February:
I started thinking a lot about different ways to give William a voice and how to share his inspirational story with the world. I really wanted to make a documentary about William and the journey we've had. I thought this would also be a great way to expose art therapy work and the disability culture in South Africa, as well as using the film as a motivational teaching tool at hospitals such as Red Cross for future amputee and burns patients. I approached a couple filmmaker friends here who introduced me to Jo Higgs of Go Trolley Films. Jo was incredibly enthusiastic about the project and agreed to make the William movie.
Filming ensued. Our first day was to Hout Bay to take William to the ocean for the first time and reunite him with another Burns Unit patient and art therapy client of mine. The 2 of them had become the best of friends at Red Cross but hadn't seen each other since the discharge of said friend. We spent the day on the beach playing in the waves, kicking a soccer ball, exploring sea creatures on the rocks and frolicking in the sun. It was an beautiful beginning to the 'Driving William' movie project.
Jo (just like everyone else) fell in love with William and quickly realized that a 3-5 minute documentary wouldn't cut it. It was decided that she would then do a 24 minute film (entirely pro-bono might I add) that could truly capture all aspects of William's rehabilitation and recovery during the last 4.5 months since the accident, including William's home life and the return to school and reintegration back into society. That way we could also air it on TV, enter it in film festivals and most importantly we could screen it at the Fundraiser I had planned to throw for William the beginning of April to raise money for his prosthesis.
My Dad arrived for a 2 week visit in Cape Town. We spent a couple fun-filled days with William, the best being swimming at Boulders Beach with penguins. Dad and William became fast friends and William found it particularly amusing when Dad accidentally dipped the car alarm fob in the ocean, which ultimately meant it then didn't work and we had to drive part way home with alarm sounding and hazards going off (long story). Dad and I also drove William home for a visit on our way to road-tripping up the Garden Route. This was his second visit home for William since being admitted to Red Cross in November.
I presented 3 times on William's rehab, recovery and art therapy interventions. Once at the Pan African Burns conference, once at Pecha Kucka: http://www.pechakuchacapetown.co.za/Past%20presentationsj11.html and then again at a Red Cross Paediatric Surgery conference. It felt really good to bring art therapy to the forefront, make people aware of the work being done in my field and demonstrate the value of art therapy, especially in a South African context (no undergrad or post-grad art therapy programmes here and only 8 practicing art therapists in all of South Africa).
I put together a little book about William's art therapy journey and CATh (The Community Arts Therapy Programme who I work/volunteer for here) laid it out for me and printed it up. It ended up being a really sweet tribute to William and all his hard work.
William started working on my MacBook totally mastered how to use it using a pencil in his mouth to type, and his chin and elbow of his partial limb for the mouse.
March:
I was invited by William's school Principal to stay with her for the first week of William's return to school. The plan was that I would accompany him to classes and assist him in hopes of making the transition and reintegration to school a little easier and also to work with staff on making a plan for him and discuss what accommodations would be necessary. It couldn't of gone better had I tried. What really helped to normalize things was that I brought a copy of Williams book with me and showed it to all his classmates and staff. We also brought my laptop so William was able to show his classmates videos of him swimming and painting and he also used it to complete all his classwork assignments on it. All of this gave him instant superstar status which was such a blessing and relief, as we all know how cruel children can be at times and this was his biggest fear about returning to school.
Filming continued. We took 3 separate journeys to Wililam's home in Hex River Valley (2 hours outside Cape Town) to capture farm and home-life, school, and time spent with friends. We got some amazing footage of interviews with family and friends, at church, a certain someone driving around the grape farm, swimming in a reservoir, playing soccer, dancing and singing (you'll have to see the movie to glimpse it all). It was all very magical. Here is the trailer for the Driving William movie (please sneak a peek): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4ozt1ONpQ
We took William on a very special outing to meet an incredibly inspiring woman. Nicky Abdanor is a clinical Psychologist, motivational speaker, lecturer and good friend to the producer of Driving William. She was also born without arms, lives independently and has a project called Nicky's Drive: http://www.nickysdrive.com/ which is an initiative to have adapted cars made for people with disabilities and aims to inspire, enable and motivate others. For William this was a profound meeting, as not only did he meet his first friend who also doesn't have arms, but additionally he got to experience driving with Nicky and observe how she goes about her day to day routine doing things such as typing with her feet. Nicky is a big part of our film and we are excited to follow her journey and continue to cultivate the relationship between her and William in the years to come.
William returned for his last week at Red Cross to do rehabilitation for the first prosthetic. We made 2 more trips to Cosmesis for fittings and pick-up of the "prosthetic sock." William used the crude claw mock-up to pick up a cup and water bottle on his own and drink, write his name and play the drums!
My Mother arrived! And boy did she enjoy spending time with William. We spent a day swimming in the Red Cross hospital pool with him, she accompanied us on one last trip to Wililam's home to film, William spent a weekend with us in Cape Town for the premier and screening of his big movie debut (slumber party central: pizza, movies, stories, games, lots of laughing, a trip to World of Birds and MonkeyLand and so on). Afterwards Mom, Aunt Kris and I took him with us to an overnight at the Aquila Private Game Reserve which included two game drives. Aquila was incredibly generous in donating William's entire stay/package (which isn't cheap). I've never seen a kid quite so amped and excited to see animals. Bouncing off the walls, making me snap a million shots of baby rhinos, elephants play fighting, lions that looked like they wanted to eat him, hippos in the mud and more (photos coming soon), stuffing himself at the buffet, swimming in a giant pool, and taking 3 baths (in the jacuzzi tub) followed by 2 showers in the outdoor shower (all in one night) and another bath/shower the next day. The boy was in heaven and it was pretty magical to be able to share that experience with both him, Mom and Kris. Big thanks to my adored Mother and Aunt for bringing him along.
And lastly, a couple final days of filming at Red Cross and we wrapped it up with a morning of underwater footage of William and I having our last swim together at the Red Cross pool during his last day at hospital (so bittersweet). And this is when the waterworks started. After spending so much time together over the last 4.5 months, pouring my energy into doing everything in my power to support, help, advocate and hold up this incredible child I have to admit I'm pretty heartbroken to see him go and also incredibly emotionally drained. However, I wouldn't change one second of it. It's definitely been the most profound work I've done to date and it feels pretty amazing to know I made a huge difference in one child's life. a BIG HUGE thank you to everyone who has been involved, part of this work and journey and supported both me and William along the way!!! Especially: Jo Higgs, Clinton Smith, my Cape Town family: Kristine and Ken Berg and Prof. Heinz Rode (Head of the Burns Unit at Red Cross).
To make a donation towards William's future prosthesis, educational tools and continued rehabilitation, please click on the paypal button that says "Donate" either on the top or bottom of this blog. 100% of proceeds go to William and the betterment of his future.
Additionally if you live in South Africa: I have set up an account through the Friends of the Children's Hospital at Red Cross. Here are the banking details for William:
Account Name: The Friends of the Children's Hospital Association
Bank: Standard
Branch: Rondebosch
Branch Code: 025009
Account Number: 071 439 196 (must state "For William Smith")
Account Type: Current
Added incentive: If you donate $25 USD (150R) or more I will personally send or hand-deliver you one of the little "William's Art Therapy Journey" Booklet which are beautiful. If you just want a book, I'm selling them for $7.50 USD (52R) + $2.50 (20R) S/H (if mailed) and all proceeds go to William for prosthetics! Thanks in advance for your support!
