Saskatoon mom hopes children’s book about daughter who died of cancer will help others

A Saskatoon mom is hoping to help children with cancer by telling the story of her daughter who died last spring from an aggressive form of leukemia.

Cass Thiesen’s daughter Clarke was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) when she was just two years old.

Thiesen said Clarke spent much of the next four years receiving radiation, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants and other treatments to try and cure the disease.

During all that time, Clarke never let her family dwell on the fact she was sick, Thiesen said.

“She didn’t quit, so there was no quit in us,” Thiesen said.

“She was dancing before her first radiation session. She knew she was going to be locked down to a table with a radiation mask and she’s just dancing the hallways before with all these elderly people that she was sitting in the room with and they were just smiling at her. She just brought joy.”

Speaking with Saskatoon Morning host Stephanie Massicotte, Thiesen said Clarke remained positive despite spending much of her life in the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital, and asked for birthday presents for her little brother, not herself.

“Oh God, that girl could command a room,” Thiesen said.

“She just had so much spirit, she loved to joke around with everyone. We’d constantly be doing different booby traps and scaring the nurses.”

Clarke died at six years old this past April. After her death, her family established a foundation to support Saskatchewan families dealing with cancer.

During Clarke’s celebration of life, family friend Tracy Kondratiuk started thinking that her story could help other children.

“I had a lightbulb moment sitting there thinking this is a children’s book. It reads like a children’s book.”

With Thiesen’s support, Kondratiuk wrote the children’s book Clarke’s Big, Brave Heart to capture Clarke’s quirks, inspire children living with cancer and provide a tool for families to talk about the disease.

“I think it teaches a lot of lessons to kids, and kids that may be going through other health challenges or battles, but also something that parents can use as a teaching tool and a way for people to really appreciate the life that they’re given,” Kondratiuk said.

Thiesen said the book also gives people, especially other children, a way to speak about what they and Clarke have gone through.

The money raised from the book’s sale will support the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital and help families dealing with cancer in Saskatchewan through the Forever Clarke Foundation.