"I wouldn't call myself an artist," Parry said in the video. "…I do draw and paint a little bit. I like to feel like I am giving them something I spent some time on to tell them, 'you are not just something I operated on. You're a human being (and) he's a piece of me with it.' "
The artwork, though, does more than bring a smile to the face of the child who received it. It also gives parents encouragement and strength when they need it most.
The Washington Post, in a story posted earlier today, shared exactly what the gesture meant to Susan McFrederick after her son's surgery in 2011.
Each of Parry's drawings is done at the request of the child. Over the years, Parry told The Washington Post, he has drawn a number of beloved cartoon characters, superheroes and sports teams mascots. But he's done a few unique drawings, too.
"There was a girl once who really wanted a cheeseburger, but couldn't eat after surgery, so she woke up and found a cheeseburger drawn on her bandage," Parry said in the story. "And another time, when I took a bullet out of a child, I drew a gun inside a circle with a red line across it."
Erin Pustay Beaven is the online content editor for Rubber & Plastics News. She is an appreciator of life's littlest treasures, a reader of great books and supporter of the Green Bay Packers. Erin is an advocate for libraries, arts education and PBS. Follow her on Twitter at @EBeavenCrain.
