Bags of Hope

Rachel Hoskins - rhoskins@thefranklinpress.com

Being scared. Being out of your element. Needing comfort. Finding peace in the midst of battling for your life.

Shawn Burleson knows those feelings.

Twelve years ago she was battling for her life. At the young age of 42 she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Something felt wrong,” said Burleson. “I found the lump. I got a scan. I had cancer.”

Burleson said she remembers those days vividly. Sitting for hours during 39 rounds of radiation. Looking for something to occupy her time.

Today Burleson is cancer free but she remembers how she felt during those days of treatments. Three years ago she had the idea of creating cancer bags, bags filled with comfort items for cancer patients undergoing treatments.

“I was talking to a friend who was going through cancer treatments. She was scared, felt alone and was sitting there for three hours thinking about what was happening. I had been there – not knowing if I would live or die – and it was just laid on my heart to do something. I thought what would have made me feel better, taken my mind off the time?” said Burleson.

That feeling manifested in a simple bag – prayed over – and filled with items that help pass the hours during treatments: crossword puzzles, magazines, socks, a small blanket for warmth.

“It was a God moment,” said Burleson “He’s there, at just the right time… always.”

Burleson said she reached out to the Hope Center in Asheville where she received treatments and asked for recommendations on what should be in the bags. That was the beginning of her Bags of Hope ministry.

During the past three years Burleson has delivered 125 bags and is currently working on 31 more. Each bag is filled with comfort and hope and covered in prayer for the recipient.

She delivers bags to New Horizons in Asheville,  a small independent oncology center that helps those with no insurance, and locally to the Messino Center in Spruce Pine.

“I make them for people I don’t know, for the centers to distributed,” said Burleson. “And I make them for specific people. Friends who reach out to me or people who reach out to me on Facebook. They know someone who could use one and I make a bag specifically for that person.”

The oldest recipient was a 91-year-old man. The youngest an 8-year-old girl.

“I tailored the bags to them specifically,” said Shawn, “filling the man’s with guy things and the child’s with things a little girl would enjoy.”

Burleson said the very first bags had neck pillows, no-slip socks and a small blanket. “I thought I was going to leave the blanket out,” she said. “Then a lady who had received one of the bags stopped to thank me. She said the bag was a blessing and the thing she enjoyed most was the small blanket she could wrap around her shoulders like a hug –the blankets went back in.”

Each bag costs around $60 to fill. Burleson has had some help.

“Friends donate stuff,” she said. “Dollar General has been great. They’ve donated magazines, crossword puzzle and sudoku books. So many people have helped. Family, friends, grandchildren, and youth groups help pack the bags.”

Burleson said the biggest challenge has been finding storage. Her ministry has grown and she has hopes that a local group or church may take it over.

“I don’t know one person who has not been touched by cancer,” said Burleson. “Imagine having the opportunity to give these bags to people and they know they have been prayed over and are filled with items that provide comfort when people are sick and scared.”

Burleson realizes not everyone needs a cancer bag. Many people have a good support team around them, but some don’t, and it’s those that she looks to serve. “And, some people just don’t think about it,” said Burleson. “But they may hear my story and think ‘yes, I need to do that for my person’.”
Burleson’s other hope – women and men hearing her story will be proactive about their health.
She said she tells everyone, “check the tatas. You’re in charge of your health. To my knowledge there was no family history of breast cancer,” said Burleson. “I found the lump. I went to the doctor. When I was told it was probably just a cyst caused by caffeine, I was persistent.”
That persistence paid off and today Burleson feels blessed to be able to share her story with others and provide a token of comfort, a Bag of Hope, filled with comfort, covered in prayer.
If you’d like to help Burleson with her Bags of Hope ministry you can reach her at burleson.shawn@yahoo.com or call the Mitchell News-Journal at 828-765-7169 and leave your name and phone number and we will help connect you.