Art for Charlie Art Show and Auction flyer, courtesy.
The Art for Charlie Foundation is named for Charlie Waller, who was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a terminal brain stem cancer, at age 3. After undergoing radiation therapy, Charlie’s tumor shrunk to the point where he could live like a regular kid, at least for a little while, known as a ‘honeymoon period’. Charlie’s lasted longer than most cases, and he later died at age 5, almost a full two years longer than doctors predicted.
The 5th Annual “Art for Charlie” Art Show and Auction took place this weekend on the mezzanine floor of East Lansing Marriott with proceeds going to the Art for Charlie Foundation, which promotes hospice and palliative care for families coping with the loss or terminal illness of a child, like the Wallers.
Speeches were given by former Michigan Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, Art for Charlie president and Charlie Waller's mother, Abigail Waller, and donating artist Michelle Cerrito-Nazzaro, detailing the group’s mission and the meaning behind their goals.
“He was a cool kid, he loved anything gross and scary, he loved snakes and bugs, and everything in the world was wonderful,” Melissa Fore, a close family friend of the Wallers and a volunteer at Art for Charlie, said.
Fore said she first met Charlie when he was undergoing radiation for his tumor. She now helps run the children’s art show, which is now big enough to be detached from the main show.
“He could stop and play with something on the ground, and make a little house, and play with it for hours. His imagination was amazing. He was a spitfire.”
After Charlie’s death, Waller held “grief talks”, trying to help people better understand how to cope with loss and how to help those who are grieving.
“...Abby talks about all the ways that you can understand how people are feeling, and that people feel grief in so many different ways,” Fore said.
“She said you never know if you’re never going to say the right thing or the wrong thing, but if it’s coming from the heart, from a good place, it’s always better to ask how someone’s doing… to make sure those people don’t collapse under the weight of their grief… I don’t know how she does it.”
Having known firsthand the loss of a child and recognizing the support she had received in overcoming her grief, Waller and her family founded Art for Charlie in order to raise awareness and provide help for families who have lost a child.
“Somethings in life cannot be fixed, there are no cures for some illnesses, and there is no cure for a broken heart,” Waller said in her speech. “Our culture treats grief like a problem to be solved, or an illness to be healed. We try to apologize for grieving.”
Waller said that grieving people need two things to begin to heal: the magnitude of their loss to be acknowledged, and simple kindness.
“They need to be reminded that even though the world was terribly cruel to them, the world remains a safe, and loving, and kind place,” Waller said.
Waller then detailed the two parts of Art for Charlie’s mission. The first: improving the quality of life of terminal children, making sure they suffer as little as possible; the second, easing the pain of families who have lost a child by supporting them through their grief.
“What began as a community wrapping their arms around one family, turned into that family wrapping their arms around our whole community,” Whitmer said in her speech. “Having been through this journey, (the Wallers) know too well what families need…”
Art for Charlie hosts an annual Pediatric Palliative Care & Bereavement Conference to discuss with medical and administrative professionals ways to further pediatric palliative care and ease the pain of terminal children and grieving families. This year’s conference will be held on Nov. 21 at East Lansing Marriott.
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