BREANNA'S GIFT

My name is Marsha Ovitz and Breanna was my granddaughter. She was bright, determined and full of fun. She loved to chitty chat about stuff, she loved to learn, she loved to play dress up, and she loved to suck her thumb. She loved to boss her brothers around, she loved shoes, she loved pink and she loved to dance.

When Breanna was 3, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and she spent a lot of time in the hospital. One of the things that always put a smile on her face was going to the playroom, putting on tap shoes and dancing. She was so sad when she had to go back to her room and leave the shoes behind. Breanna also loved it when I'd show her the dances I had learned in my jazz classes. She'd suck her thumb, watch me dance, get a little smile on her face and say, "Again!" Breanna gave us her love and her joy and we are hoping to do the same by putting smiles on sad faces.

Breanna's Gift is an arts program offering dance, art, music and theater classes for children with cancer and other serious illnesses. We cover the cost of professional teachers, dance wear, dance shoes, lesson videos, costumes and art materials. When we began our arts program, we knew what we wanted to accomplish and how we planned to go about it, but we had no idea what impact we would actually have.

From the very beginning, we understood we were being given the privilege of being a small part in the life of a sick child. Some of our kids take class the same day they are released from the hospital. Some come to our program still recovering from surgery, some are connected to IVs, some in wheelchairs. Often, we only see a child once and equally as often, we are together for several weeks and sometimes months. Proud parents take photos and many times participate in the activities with their children. Little girls have been known to still be wearing their tap shoes and costumes the day following their dance class in the hospital playroom.

We are encouraged and motivated by the smiles we see on the faces of these wonderful children and we thank all of our supporters for increasing the reach of our program.

We find ourselves continually amazed at the resilience and energy that we see in the children we serve. And the results - from the children, their families and everyone associated with Breanna's Gift - are SMILES! If you like the idea of helping very sick children escape through the magic of the arts, we hope you'll join us.