Treasured Laughter - Page 4 of 7

Babies are so highly treasured in Navajo culture that the making of a cradle has deep significance, and families often hold a celebration in honor of the child's first laugh. In traditional teachings, all things are interconnected, so that a baby's illness may need both loving care and a ceremony to restore balance to the world.

"Imagine what it's like for parents to suddenly be airlifted more than a thousand miles from home," says UCSF pediatric social worker Amanda Magary. "The doctors say their baby needs a drastic treatment right away, and the elders in the family are asking how the child can possibly get well so far from their sacred homeland. Like all parents, they feel responsible when a child is sick. They wonder if somehow they could have protected her. They worry about doing the right thing."

Traditional healers from the Bay Area's Native American community have accepted several families' invitations to perform ceremonies that bless a child or cleanse a hospital room of spirits before the child's treatment. Some compromises are necessary -- hospital sanitation rules forbid smoke and thus forbid the incense of burning herbs. But Magary observes that blending the two cultures of healing has its own effect. "Dr. Cowan always meets the healer. They shake hands, and consult with each other. In the family, individuals may have different opinions about types of medicine, but they can see that there is mutual respect between the two."

Twelve-year-old Courtney Nez has spent more time in hospitals than many other SCID children, with episodes that stem from unusual bleeding in her lungs. Both of her grandfathers were traditional Navajo healers. Her father's father studied this pathway after he retired from railroad work and for the rest of his life was much respected, busy all year long with requests for healing ceremonies. "He was helped during his life by Western medicine and by traditional medicine, and he believed that they could be helpful together," says his son, Benson Nez.

At one point, when Courtney was hospitalized in critical condition, her maternal grandfather organized a ceremony for her -- requesting another healer to perform it, for the same reason that a surgeon with a sick child would ask a colleague to perform the operation. Courtney was unconscious in a faraway hospital and the ceremony took place near home, but at the bedside her mother, Karen, was certain that the child could feel the blessings.

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