The Yellow Boat Quilt

The talents and artwork of 30 Children's Hospital patients (John has 2 pictures in the blue section) will be displayed permanently at Children's Hospital beginning May 12 (yes, we plan to be there). Dawn Sees, a graduate student in the University of Missouri's College of Education, shared the story of "The Yellow Boat" with patients at Children's Hospital. After hearing the story, they created small quilt squares expressing what made them happy, and Sees sewed the squares into a quilt. The four-foot-by-six0foot quilt was first displayed during the PACE Youth Theatre's Arts in Health theater production of "The Yellow Boat" in January. the play was written by David Saar as a way to celebrate his son's life. Born with congenital hemophilia, Benjamin Saar contracted HIV through a blood transfusion. He lost his battle with AIDS at the age of 8. A gifted artist, Benjamin channeled his physical and emotional pain into colorful and imaginative drawings. The Yellow Boat Quilt at Children's Hospital will serve as an example of how powerful art can be in the healing and recovery of patients. It will be dedicated to the patients, families, staff and volunteers at Children's Hospital.


This artist came to John's room when he was in Children's with his bowel bleeding and in pain prior to his transplant last fall. She was a delight to work with and brightened both John's and my day considerably with the whole process of the art itself and getting to enjoy hearing about the project and what her plans were with it. While we think it cool that John has two squares in here, we are mostly excited that he got to enjoy that day and take part in something that will bring smiles to others for years to come. God has blessed us in many many ways, and on that day, he blessed us to meet an artist who wanted to use her God-given talents to help others.