Blog Post #3 Supporting Cancer Patients Action project

Hey guys! I am going to bring you up to speed with my project this semester. I haven’t made as much progress as I hoped I would but it’s okay!! So far I have made about 20 cards to give away and decided on the flowers that I will pair with the cards. I have also talked to my nana who battled cancer about 12 years ago. I asked for her advice on how I could improve my project (which I will get into later). Unfortunately I am still unable to get in contact with the Canadian Cancer Agency. I will keep trying as I would like to talk to them before I finalize plans about my project. I just think getting input from experts would help me out a lot. This project also required quite a lot of research, specifically I wanted to learn how random acts of kindness can affect cancer patients. From what I’ve read kind actions can significantly benefit patients moods and symptoms. 1) “Positive activities are simple, self-administered cognitive and behavioral strategies that have been shown to effectively increase well-being by promoting positive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.” 2) “…. weather spontaneous or premeditated, such acts of kindness do more than make the giver and recipient feel good – they can also bolster our psychological and physical health in surprising ways.” Even small actions can make a big impact and this is how this article relates to my project. I am doing a small gesture and hoping to make a big impact.💗

In my opinion one of my successes would definitely be getting my nana’s perspective on my project! I reached out to her a few times and got her feedback. Her response to my blog posts confirmed my concerns about the potential allergic reactions to flowers. She said she was apprehensive about the flowers potentially affecting symptoms. I explained that I had already taken that into consideration and created a list of non toxic, non fragrant flowers. She really liked that I decided to handmake the cards! 💕

Thankfully so far during this project I’ve had more successes then challenges. Although it hasn’t been completely positive. There’s been a few set backs one of them being time. I chose to make the cards handmade so that they would be more personal and compassionate but doing so also means extra work. I have been trying to make one card a day but it has been difficult due to lack of motivation, and time. I have been getting support from my family so I feel that I can stay on track. My mom especially has been helping me make the supportive cards because she is aware that it is a big work load for only one person. So this way we can distribute the workload to make it a little bit easier. This has helped because I have been able to focus on other school commitments. Such as homework, clubs, and tests. Another challenge I faced was trying to overcome the British Columbia weather (rain). In my first blog post I knew weather would be a challenge so I took it into consideration. I realized I could put the cards into plastic bags. I thought the problem was solved but when I started making the cards I realized it is difficult to make mini bag sized cards. I persevered and discovered a new format for the cards.

For my next steps I am going to be continuing my card making! In order for my project to move forward I must keep researching and reaching out to personal connections I think could help me. As I stated before, I am not an expert so getting help from one is important. My main goal is to get in contact with the Canadian Cancer Agency, I will keep trying! Thank You for reading, hope to see you on the next post. ❤️

References:

1. Lilian J. Shin-Cho, Meagan Whisenant, Lorenzo Cohen, Minxing Chen, Carlos H. Barcenas, Yisheng Li, Qian Lu (2025). Feasibility, acceptability, and experienced benefits of kind acts and gratitude letter interventions among collectivist and individualist culture cancer patients and caregivers: A pilot study. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1462388925001942
2. Maureen Salamon (2025). The healing power of kindness – Being kind isn’t just gratifying – it’s a path to greater well being. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-healing-power-of-kindness.