Close to people | Stories from Bethel
"It's so stupid, the disease!"
Svenja is a baker today. Without hesitation, she grabs the flour and adds sugar. She beats the eggs skilfully. Not a piece of shell gets lost in the bowl. Baking powder and butter - the dough for the Advent biscuits is ready. "I don't need scales. It's fine," she says and laughs. Where do they bake? In the hospital! It's not just during Advent that the Bethel Children's Centre offers lots of activities to help children and young people forget their illness for a moment. Occupational therapy staff do handicrafts, knead, paint, bake, cook, sing, sew or simply have fun with the young patients.
This is important for Svenja. She has already undergone several chemotherapy treatments. The eleven-year-old is affected by a rare disease: Neurofibromatosis type 1, which Svenja simply calls "The stupid disease!" Specialist Dr Norbert Jorch explains: "In those affected, benign tumours can form anywhere in the body. Rarely do they develop in the brain. Unfortunately, this is the case with Svenja." A tumour had pressed on Svenja's optic nerve. Her vision was down to five per cent. "After the chemo, it's back to 80 per cent," says Svenja's father with relief. During the difficult times, he and his wife were always by their daughter's side - every day and every night. The new Bethel Children's Centre, which was financed thanks to many donations, has created good conditions for this.
"I had to break so often and my bones hurt. Not even my favourite spaghetti went down," says Svenja. But today she's feeling better again. "I want to bake lots and lots of big biscuits," she says to occupational therapist Svenja Alf. The baking powder has done a great job: Really thick shooting stars and Christmas trees are cut out, iced and sprinkled with colour. Off to the oven. A wonderful aroma wafts through the Advent-decorated corridors. Christmas will soon be here.
Text: Heike Lepkojis | Picture: Matthias Cremer
This story simply told
Svenja bakes biscuits at the Bethel Children's Centre. She mixes the dough together with a therapist. Svenja really enjoys it. Svenja is 11 years old. She has often been hospitalised. She has a rare disease. Svenja had to have an operation. The medication made her sick. But now she is feeling better. She is looking forward to Christmas.
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Contact
Children's Centre Bethel
Grenzweg 10
33617 Bielefeld
Offers & services
The Children's Centre at the Evangelical hospital Bethel (EvKB) covers the entire spectrum for young patients aged 0 to 18 years. Whether illness or injury, acute or chronic, physical (somatic) or psychiatric - the EvKB offers the right individual treatment concept for all medical requirements with its outpatient, day-care and inpatient services.
