Cancer is scary. Meet the Froedtert employee who hand-decorates masks to help kids cope.
Caidence Carnes, 8, loves the Power Rangers.
The Red Ranger is his favorite, specifically, the one from the "Beast Morphers" version of the show, who uses the strength of a cheetah claw to fight his enemies. Red is Caidence's favorite color. He likes when the Power Rangers power up in their suits and have "epic" fights.
"It's really cool," he says of the show.
In 2019, when he was 4 years old, Caidence found himself in an epic fight of his own. Doctors told his family they'd found a tumor in his brain. The rare cancer, called anaplastic ependymoma, was classified as stage three, meaning it may have grown and spread to the surrounding tissues.
The tumor was to be surgically removed, and Caidence would need to go through 30 days of radiation therapy treatment. For the treatment to work, he would have to lie very still, under a cage-like mask that was specially-molded to fit his head and hold it in place.
"It was new," Caidence remembered. "I was scared."
At first, doctors had to put Caidence under anesthesia every day he came in, to make sure he didn't move. But as his treatments went on, and he got used to being in the hospital and getting the treatments, he was able to start getting the radiation without needing to be sedated.
Lying perfectly still, Caidence's radiation mask would be placed on his face before being locked in place. It looked unlike any other in the hospital, because it was painted to look like his favorite Red Ranger. Wearing it, he felt a little braver, a little less scared.
"It was really cool, how she made it," Caidence said.
He was talking about Courtney Shanmugabaskaran, a radiation therapist at Froedtert Hospital who has hand-decorated dozens of custom masks for the hospital's pediatric patients.
The Power Ranger mask was one-of-a-kind, one of some 40 meticulously painted by Shanmugabaskaran during her time off of work. She solicits requests from the children and then takes the masks home, researching and creating designs that transform the intimidatingly colorless restraints into whatever the kids want.
It could be a unicorn with a horn and a cascading ribbon mane. Or it could be Spiderman or another superhero. Or even a bunch of smiling poop emojis.
The tradition of painting the radiation masks started in 2019, when the mother of one of Shanmugabaskaran's patients suggested that maybe treatment sessions would be less scary for her son if he felt like a superhero.
The mother turned her son's mask into Spiderman.
Shanmugabaskaran, who has worked at Froedtert for a decade, decided she'd expand the idea to more patients. She made her first mask using only Sharpies and it took "forever." Nowadays, she can paint one in two to six hours, depending on how much research she has to do and if she's made the design before.
"Throughout all of their treatments they really don't get any opportunity to have a say in anything that they do," Shanmugabaskaran said of her patients. "So I feel like this gives them a voice and allows them to have a little bit of an opinion or a say in how things are going to look for them."
An avid crafter, Shanmugabaskaran has been able to make a mask for every child who has requested one. Sometimes, doctors or others will pass along requests as they get them. Other times, she'll work with the patients herself, talking through their vision so she can get it exactly right.
The kids are always excited to see the final creation. One of her very young patients, who was receiving treatment in November, asked for Mei Mei, the main character from the Disney movie "Turning Red."
When she would arrive for treatment, "She looks at her mask and points at it and she goes 'Mei Mei! Mei Mei!'" Shanmugabaskaran said. "So it isn't like a scary looking thing to her, it's maybe more familiar to look at."
For children around the age of 4 and older, getting used to their masks and the overall experience of getting radiation can make a big difference. Like Caidence, it can prevent them from having to be sedated to get treatment.
That's important because, over time, kids can develop tolerance to the anesthesia if they're being put under often. There can also be a lot of preparation that is required before anesthesia, including not being able to eat. Any chance to avoid putting kids through that Monday though Friday for six weeks straight is good, Shanmugabaskaran said.
A child's cancer treatment is a "big process," Nicole Arms, Caidence's mom, said. Caidence's treatment was a scary and difficult time, one that still brings her to tears when she thinks about it. Kids don't even really understand what they're going through, Arms said. But the Power Ranger mask helped calm Caidence's fear of visiting the hospital.
"Because he was comfortable, I was comfortable," Arms said.
Caidence finished treatment in August 2019, and has been cancer free since.
He said he feels "a lot more better" and wanted other kids who have cancer to "just be brave. Be patient."
Shanmugabaskaran said making the masks helps her feel like she's doing something to help make her patients' journeys a little bit easier.
"We always talk about like how resilient they are, which, I guess they shouldn't really have to be in this kind of situation. It's unfortunate that this has kind of become their norm," she said. "I just enjoy them being able to have a voice in their treatments."
Contact Devi Shastri at 414-224-2193 or DAShastri@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @DeviShastri.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Froedtert radiation therapist customizes masks for kids with cancer
