Times Union Record - June 2005
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William the Warrior Bear - by Debbie Wood
By JENNIFER E. O'BRIEN, Special to the Times Union
First published: Thursday, June 2, 2005
Coping with and understanding a serious illness is difficult
and painful enough for adults. Watching a child face and fight
a cancer diagnosis is unthinkable. Parents who have had to
endure this pain are the only ones who truly understand the
depths of fear they and their child feel. Debra Wood, 43, of
Gansevoort, is hoping her new book, "William Warrior Bear,"
will offer comfort and understanding for child cancer
patients and their families. The book tells the story of
William Warrior Bear, a little bear who battles against his
own cancer and who, through the love and support of his
friends and family and his strong faith, learns to be strong
and brave. Wood found inspiration for the book in the life of
Andrew Christian Bryce, a young boy from Troy she has only
heard about. "I never got to meet Andrew, but I just heard
so many wonderful things about him. He was 7 years old when
they realized he had pediatric brain cancer and he was 11
years old when he passed away," she said.
In 1999, Andrew's mother, Kyle Bryce, formed the Andrew
Christian Bryce Foundation , which is dedicated to providing
support and encouragement to children facing
life-threatening ailments and to their families. The
foundation provides the children with a warrior medal and a
ceremony to honor their bravery. Several years ago, the
foundation awarded Wood's son Christian with a medal. Born
with an extra ball of veins and arteries in his abdomen, he
faced surgery as an infant. He had an enlarged heart and was
missing the femoral artery on his right side. Another surgery
at 11 to have a Gore-Tex artery implanted failed. Now 19, he
continues to live with the condition, longer than doctors
predicted. "He was not expected to survive, but he did and
that's why he received his medal from Kyle," Wood said.
Through that connection, the two women became friends and
Wood became involved with the foundation. Several years
ago, she wrote the song "Walk on Mighty Warriors." When
approached by Bryce to do something for the foundation's
second annual Mother's Day Walk in Troy, Wood was
stumped. "I sat there and thought maybe a poem because I
love to write poetry or a song, and it just wasn't coming to
me. You know I always pray about everything before I try
and put it on paper, and nothing was coming and I just kept
putting the pen down," she said.
After talking with her family about what she might do for
the foundation, the story came to her. Once she had it
written, her 14-year-old nephew Joshua Aaron Blake drew
the illustrations. The title character is named after Wood's
own father, William Blake, who passed away two years ago,
and "Warrior" refers to Andrew. Because of her experiences
with a seriously ill child, Wood feels she understands what
other families go through and was able to put her heart into
this project. "It needed to be out there, so we could make
people more aware of what the children go through, because a
lot of times ... they get left behind because they can't do
things like other children," she said.
All proceeds from "William Warrior Bear," which is available
at local Borders Bookstores, will go to the Andrew Christian
Bryce Foundation. Wood wanted to make the book positive
and focus on how brave and strong these children are, and
offer understanding and support for their parents. She
based the main character on all the stories she has heard
about Andrew. "They say no matter how many surgeries he
had or when he was coming out of surgery, he always made
the nurses laugh. He was really positive," Wood said. So far,
Wood has received praise for the book from someone who
knows.
"It's really awesome. It's a beautiful, beautiful book," Bryce
says. " 'Let hope live' is our trademark slogan. ... The bottom
line is just encourage them and keep that hope alive because
hope is everything."
Jennifer O'Brien is a freelance writer from Ravena.