The time has come for Ethan to close the chapter on Teens Thrive Reading Group (TTRG), his virtual book club for teen oncology patients and survivors. Here are the brief words that he shared with his private Instagram-based group a few days ago.
From Ethan: “After nearly four and a half years, and now that I am headed off to college, I am sad to say that I am shutting down Teens Thrive Reading Group. First and foremost, thank you to everyone for participating. Throughout cancer treatment, reading was extremely important to me. But it has remained an important part of my life long beyond that, providing an escape from the world and a window into new ones that social media or YouTube could never replicate. If there is one thing you got from this club—whether you read one book or many—I hope you will continue to make reading a part of your life as well. To honor the end of this club, we are offering everyone a free book of your choice. DM us which one you’d like. Later 👋”
Ethan launched TTRG in September 2020 to appeal to teenage and young adult patients at CHOC, especially those who may be interested in a literature-based activity but who may not be excited by the read-alouds provided by our bedside readers. He ran it for 51 consecutive months, selecting 51 featured books of the month that participants could receive for free (along with free Kindles) and curating 51 book discussions. It has been a good run, until recently when most members have grown up and grown out of the group (and survived cancer!)…with Ethan off to college, it is time to move on. After Ethan’s goodbye message to the group, one member wrote” ” Thank you for keeping this group going for as long as it did. It certainly made our days a lot more enjoyable”. We thank our initial funders of this program — Rexford Industrial, Mark Latimer/the Larry and Helen Hoag Foundation, and John and Kathleen Collins — and all the donors along the way, for making it possible for ECBC to offer this program for the past 4+ years.
