‘The Youngest Champion:’ New book on how to discuss cancer with children

A former Hamilton Street Railway driver has released a book that depicts the unique courage children with cancer have as they undergo treatment.

For over 30 years, Larry George Pickett drove past McMaster Children’s Hospital on his bus route. Pickett was inspired to write this book after seeing kids face their cancer with bravery.

“I would think to myself, ‘How does this young five-year-old girl process the [medical] terms and words she’s hearing?” Pickett said in an interview on Morning Live. “I think a child like that would process them and change them to things she would understand.”

That is exactly how Pickett wrote his first published book called The Youngest Champion.

The fiction book tells the story of a brave child named Catrina who is counting on her siblings to help her in a race against time. Her three brothers have to enter “The Cave of Bone and Marrow” to see who has the most courage and defeat the evil “Leuki” to save their sister’s life.

The villain in the book is named “Leuki,” which represents Catrina being diagnosed with leukemia, and “The Cave of Bone and Marrow” represents the bone marrow transplant Catrina must have.

Pickett said the goal of his book is to let children know it is OK to be afraid when they are facing a scary situation, such as cancer.

“When I was young I was always told, “If you were afraid, you were a coward. If you were afraid, you were a chicken,’” he said. “That really affected me because I was afraid and I thought I was a coward. I want to show young people that that’s not true. Without fear, there would be no courage.”

The Youngest Champion can be purchased online on Amazon and Pandamonium Publishing House.