Here's a tale that will tug on your heart strings: It begins in a small town in Pennsylvania, in 1926, at the birth of Joe Manfrey, the fifth child in a family that would eventually grow to nine.
Like many his age, Manfrey served in World War II; his ship was part of the battle of Iwo Jima.
But unlike many of his peers, Manfrey, now 89, is still volunteering twice a week in the cancer unit in the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford where he spreads good cheer, hope and sock monkeys. Manfrey was featured in a recent story in the San Jose Mercury News:
"Joe embodies the great values of the Greatest Generation," said Leslie Griffith, a nurse in the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases. "He is funny, engaging and soothing to parents, who can be crying or overwhelmed by a surreal sadness. But just when they feel lost, someone kind and upbeat like Joe arrives -- an Earth angel, a beautiful spirit."
But there's a twist to Manfrey's story.
His own son, now 47, survived acute lymphoblastic leukemia as a child, at a time when its survival rates were much lower than they are now. He shows patients a photo of his son as a bald, 5-year-old, and then one as a healthy adult.
"By showing them the pictures together, it lets them know that I personally know what they are going through. It also gives them hope because they can see that Rob grew up to be healthy and strong," Manfrey said in the article.
"This is not about me," he emphasized in the story. "I do this for the kids and the parents, in order to take their minds off the difficulties they are going through. I try to make them feel a little more comfortable."
Previously: California collaboration focuses on analyzing pediatric cancers, A look at the dramatic improvement in pediatric cancer survival rates and Children's hospital volunteers snuggle infants to soothe tiny patients and reassure their parents
Photo by Clyde Robinson
