Perry Winkle Foundation, Perry Wrinkle Foundation, France discussed on Houston Public Affairs show
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
I am the Texan from France and my guest Today is Doug Circuit. He is the executive director of Perry Winkle Foundation, an organization that has not skipped a beat despite the fact that they serve Children suffering from cancer they organize. Camps and activities and shows for Children that are going through something that is cruel and unjust to be sick, that young and to have to suffer that much. And we know from pain management philosophies and doctors studying the matter that support from the community from your family and from your friends. Is part of a saw the road to recovery and convalescence and the Perry Wrinkle Foundation provides a support group. For all these kids. They're basically giving all these kids an opportunity to meet with others who are suffering another Tragic, unjust and cruel fate and getting out of it. And Doug. I hope I'm not I I don't mean to harp on the cruelty of the situation, but it's something that pulls at our heart strings. When we see kids that are that are sick. It's just it's not meant to be. And I think that maybe that's one of the driving purposes behind your organization. It generates a lot of empathy, and these Children are not only deserving of our help, but they flourished. They thrive with our help, and the organization is literally changing lives and making a difficult period of their lives a little bit easier, right? Absolutely. That is absolutely correct, Lorant. That's uh Perry Winkle started, you know, 38 years ago as a single summer camp for kids living with cancer are founder Dr Paul Gerson, who is still involved with can't carry Winkle. The doctor radiology at Texas Children's ended MD. Anderson and he tells the story that he was literally walking the halls of the Children's floor and the cancer center. And he said, all that I would see was Dying Children and grieving parents. And he said, We have to do better than this. And what he did was he went And started planning. Can't Perry Winkle As you can imagine, And this was a 1984. They implemented the first camp and took about 50 campers out to camp for the week. And as you can imagine these kids coming out of the hospital or They've been at home for a number of years over months, the pertaining on treatment Got to experience camp just like any other kid. And the real magic happened when these kids returned back home, and they returned back to the hospital setting the doctors, the nurses and everyone noticed this new sense of optimism and the Kids attitude and towards life and towards their treatment of their cancer. And that's what started the Periwinkle Foundation, who today provides a year round series of camps, arts and Survivor programs for cancer patients. You're right. Periwinkles.