PBS, Arthur & Cancer

My son, although he is a little old for it now, has always loved the PBS show Arthur. He's home sick from school today, resting on the couch glued to the TV. We flipped to PBS and found a special episode of Arthur dealing with cancer. A synopsis of the episode from the PBS website:

When Lakewood Elementary's beloved lunch lady Mrs. MacGrady is diagnosed with cancer, Arthur and his friends all react differently to the news.

In this special episode, parents and kids — with some help from guest-star Lance Armstrong! — learn how they can come together to support Mrs. MacGrady and each other.

"The Great MacGrady" will air every day the week of Monday, October 19.

Its really great watching the kids work through their concerns and questions. Is cancer contagious? Will Mrs McGrady ever be better? What does a person who had/has cancer look like? I highly recommend trying to catch this episode if you have kids!

Spreading the message....

Whenever there is an event at our house, and weather permits, my son likes to draw on the sidewalk to announce whatever it is we are celebrating. Balloons, flowers and slogans (Happy Birthday! Party inside!) brightly liven up the concrete in front of our stoop.

In an effort not so far off from my son's, DeepLocal has partnered with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (and others) to create Chalkbot, a concrete decorating robot-machine rolling its way along the Tour de France celebrating cancer survivorship and raising awareness. People can create messages of encouragement, support, or in memory of loved ones by simply sending a text message, and are notified with a link to an image of their message after it has been printed.

Nathan Martin, DeepLocal CEO and childhood friend of my departed husband, talks about his involvement with the project:

Like all great work, Chalkbot has a long history of work that it references, draws inspiration from, and learns from. It makes me think back to the messages I used to yell at punk kids before I became a CEO. The Chalkbot is not about technology; it is about how the technology is used.

More of Nathan's thoughts about the project can be read by clicking here. I was deeply moved by Nathan's mention of Rick, and to know that his personal experiences of dealing with a friend with cancer, and the loss of that friend, were put into this project.

To see videos of how the Chalkbot works, click here or here.

To participate in the project, and learn how to send your own message to the Chalkbot, click here.

Hopefully the Chalkbot will function like my son's sidewalk drawings- spreading messages of love and celebration to everyone who sees them.