At just sixteen, Ayana Banks is an innovator. As the resilient survivor of stage 4 neuroblastoma, she understands the power of a nurturing environment and the ways that the opportunity to discover our purpose can sometimes come at the tail end of significant challenges.
Through a young entrepreneurial program at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Ayana came up with her mission: “I had a community that would decorate my own hospital room,” said Banks, “I want to do this to give back.”
That’s why she founded her nonprofit, the Sweet Dream Project. She spends $300 per room to buy decorations for hospital rooms in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, creating comforting spaces for patients.
This week’s story from StoryCorps, much like Ayana’s, reminds us that loss can sometimes motivate us to do and be better. By connecting us with our humanity, illness can be the catalyst we need to grow and transform.
After the cancer diagnosis of her aunt and uncle, Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green faced a 360° moment: at 22, she was to become the caregiver for the people who’d raised her.
Navigating the complexities of treatment and providing comfort, while difficult, were formative experiences for her. Hadiyah-Nicole ultimately dedicated her life to research. Her passion led her to develop groundbreaking technology that has successfully eradicated cancer cells in laboratory mice, without the harmful side effects of traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
In a recent StoryCorps interview with her cousin, Tenika Floyd, Dr. Green reflects on the profound influence that her aunt and uncle had on her early life. Their love became the driving force behind her unwavering quest for cancer treatment solutions.
“It was, to me, almost a one-to-one correlation. And it opened up for me like a gift. I’m like, ’I’m in this lab killing cancer.’ It, to me, seems that I was born to do this. Maybe if they hadn’t raised me and I didn’t have all these heartstrings attached to them, I could have just moved on and gone on with life. But I couldn’t.”
She shares their stories as a testament to the strength of family bonds and the enduring power of hope.
You can listen to the full story below:
This year, CHOP is requesting the Sweet Dream Project convert 15 rooms a quarter. You can donate and sponsor a child to help Ayana create rooms decorated to their unique preferences and style to support each child’s journey.
This is the seventh in a series of short editorials that highlight powerful and positive Black stories from our partners at StoryCorps. This post and accompanying audio appear with the permission of StoryCorps, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all — one story at a time. Find out more about their programming, including their upcoming initiative Brightness in Black, at storycorps.org.
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