Drawings by children participating in the Animal Pen Pal Program
Courtesy of YAPS and Anne Gillespie
Seriously ill children and teens appear to gain emotional benefits from exchanging letters with cats and dogs with cancer.
The Interspecies Pen Pal Program connects young people facing cancer and blood disorders with animals facing similar challenges, with the owners writing letters on their behalf.
Anne Ingalls Gillespie, a former pediatric nurse at the University of Colorado, said: “Animals love and listen with an unconditional affection. They don’t argue, they don’t question; they just listen and acknowledge.”
Animal-assisted interventions — where patients spend time with trained dogs, cats and horses — have previously been found to provide emotional and mental health benefits for young cancer patients.
However, some cancer patients are so immunocompromised that their doctors forbid them from having contact with animals. To find a solution, Gillepsey designed a program called “Pen Pals.” Teen and Pet Survivors Children and teens communicate with animals through letters.
Gillespie said the patients’ pen pals were animals who had been through similar treatments and were suffering from life-threatening illnesses. She contacted veterinary oncologists, found owners willing to participate, and then trained them to use their pet’s voices to communicate with seriously ill children and teens.
To evaluate the program’s effectiveness, Gillespie and her colleagues collected 157 letters written by 16 young patients, all with the consent of the patients, parents, and pet owners. The exchanges lasted between four months and five years, with each child writing between three and 39 letters. While most of the letters were handwritten and included color drawings and photos, some were typed and printed.
Most of the children’s letters talked about their illness and treatment, but the main theme was the deepening relationship between the patient and the pet. “As time went on, the children’s letters became more and more about their successes, hopes, dreams and things they did for fun, and the illness stories faded,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie said an analysis of the letters showed they improved patients’ quality of life in similar ways to in-person animal therapy programs, including improved mood, distraction from problems and overall less emotional distress.
This may be because the letters allow patients to express themselves freely without being judged, and give them a sense of unconditional acceptance, companionship and belonging, she said.
“If a child writes, ‘I’m scared of my upcoming MRI scan,’ or, ‘I feel like the kids in my class don’t understand me,’ a dog or cat can validate that,” Gillespie said. “They don’t offer advice. They just say, ‘Oh, gosh, I get it.’ ”
She adds that pet owners also reported an increase in well-being after participating in the activities, saying the experience made what they went through meaningful. “They were happy that their dog could make a difference in a child’s life, and it also helped them deal with the emotions of their pet having cancer.” Some people specifically said that their pets themselves benefited – although further research is needed to explore how and why.
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