If you ever doubted that one person can make a difference, then please meet Danielle Cook Navidi.
Navidi is a loving mother totally committed to the idea that she could cook healthy food for her then 11-year-old son, Fabien Navidi-Kasmai, diagnosed and receiving treatment for Stage III Hodgkin's lymphoma. His taste buds were shot, he couldn't digest his favorite foods and sadly, he would go for days without eating.
Navidi reminds me of many mothers I know who are steadfast in their beliefs about what can help their children even when others, such as doctors, tell them that their ideas won't work. Their motherly instincts tell them that they are right and they are determined to find a way to make it work for their children.
Nutrition was not a priority for the doctors. They told her it was fine if he ate fast food but Navidi knew he needed fresh nutrients in his system if he was going to remain strong enough to fight the cancer. She couldn't accept the idea of feeding McDonald's to her son and instead went back to her own kitchen and started cooking what most mothers give their children when they are ill: chicken soup.
There's something primal about wanting to cook for family, especially when someone is ill. The prepared food is a reflection of your love and concern and also a way to nurture your loved one back to good health. Cooking can be an incredibly healing experience, taking you out of yourself as you taste and experiment, hoping for maximum deliciousness!!
Navidi made the soup herself and expanded the recipes to accomodate her son's cancer treatments. He was able to digest her homecooked meals and gained weight. Today, Navidi's son, Fabien, is 19-years old and, thankfully, in remission.
And her story gets better. Navidi started volunteering at Georgetown University Hospital in 2008 making smoothies for other children at the hospital being treated for cancer. She now offers free cooking class at Georgetown to the families of children with cancer and turned her recipes into a book titled "Happily Hungry: Smart Recipes for Kids with Cancer."
By Maggie Fazeli Fard, Published The Washington Post: January 8
When in doubt, start with chicken.
That’s the lesson Danielle Cook Navidi learned after her 11-year-old son,
Fabien Navidi-Kasmai, was told he had cancer, and the only nutrition advice she
received was, “Let him eat McDonald’s. He needs the calories.”
Navidi, an avid cook with a love of farmers markets and a background in
catering, was appalled. But she was also at a loss.
Fabien’s body, his digestive system, his taste buds and even his cravings
were being ravaged by his illness, Stage III Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and by his
medical treatments. He would go for days without eating. When he did, he had
trouble keeping down even his favorite foods. Navidi didn’t know how to feed him
anymore, but she was convinced fast food was not the answer.
“So I started with the basics,” says Navidi, a Washington resident. “I
grabbed a pot, put a chicken in, added some vegetables. There were days when
he’d have chicken soup at 10 a.m. because it worked for him. Now that’s what I
tell other parents: Start with the chicken.”
“I never thought I’d be here,” Navidi says, stirring a pot of red beans and
rice soup with kielbasa, which is simmering on a hot plate in a corner of the
hospital’s kitchen-less pediatric oncology waiting area. The room, filled with
art projects and board games — and now, thanks to Navidi, the smell of simmering
sausage — is a place where children pass the time between checkups and
treatments.
Eight years have passed since her own son was here, undergoing
surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and blood transfusions.
Navidi is no longer the worried mother — 19-year-old Fabien’s cancer is in
remission — but there are plenty of other parents in that position. Navidi’s job
is to share recipes that might lighten their burden or, at the very least,
distract them during the long hours spent waiting.
A holistic nutritionist, Navidi began volunteering at MedStar Georgetown in
2008. “I pretty much just asked, ‘Can I take a little spot and make
smoothies?’ ” She would do prep at home, pre-cooking anything that required a
stove or oven, and showed up at the hospital with bags of groceries.
Navidi’s commitment and willingness to pay for food and supplies out of her
own pocket drew the attention of Aziza Shad, chief of MedStar Georgetown’s
pediatric hematology-oncology program. Shad helped find grant money to fund the
program and encouraged Navidi to compile her recipes into a book.
“As an oncologist, you have to make sure your patients are in good shape
nutritionally,” says Shad. “If a child doesn’t eat well, he can’t handle
chemotherapy well. Nutrition is medicine. It’s all connected.”
Shad says cancer treatment has a major impact on appetite. Sores can develop
in the mouth, throat and gastrointestinal tract. Foods that are raw, acidic or
greasy become hard to digest. Food, even water, can begin to taste metallic due
to changes in the lining of the mouth. Stress on the body leads to new
cravings.
“Everything gets really out of whack,” Navidi says. “Fabien used to crave
burritos, and it just made him so sick.” Recognizing that what he really wanted
was salt and fat, Navidi encouraged him to eat olives and feta cheese
instead.
Through the cooking classes and the book, Navidi says, she tries to show
parents that real, whole foods don’t have to be inconvenient.
“Food and health can be a very sensitive topic. Families know that their food
choices are not always the best,” she says. “They will come in with bags of
fried chicken that they munch on [while waiting]. I try not to be judgmental. We
sit. We talk.”
The cooking classes are free, informal presentations open to patients and
their families. They’re held once each week from 10:30 a.m. until around 1:30
p.m. The classes are appropriate for the whole family; parents learn practical
tips, such as how to peel squash and grate ginger, while kid-friendly steps such
as mixing ingredients and pressing buttons on a blender allow children to
participate.
For Tanikka Cunningham’s family, the classes are as much a distraction from
the reality of childhood cancer as they are a lesson in cooking. In July 2010,
doctors told the Loudoun County resident that her 3-year-old son, Sekhu, had
leukemia. He is now 6 and in recovery; he visits his doctors twice a month and
often sees Navidi on those occasions.
“When your child is sick, your time is just focused on trying to keep your
family going,” Cunningham says. “Everything else,” including healthful eating,
“takes a back seat.”
She says the classes are a reminder to make nutrition a priority, and they
provide a creative outlet for her son.
Sekhu sidles up to Navidi, who asks if he would like to help make a
cranberry-pear smoothie. Sekhu looks from Navidi to his mom and back again,
nodding excitedly. Navidi shows him how to add the ingredients to the blender.
He giggles, successfully pouring everything in without spilling. Behind him, his
mother is smiling.
In addition to soups and smoothies, the 43 recipes in “Happily Hungry”
include comfort foods such as warm potato salad with black olive and mint pesto,
and hazelnut-chocolate chip brownies. They’re focused on flavor, digestibility
and easing side effects of cancer treatment, such as nausea, fatigue,
dehydration and compromised immune function.
Navidi is toying with the idea of writing a second cookbook this year and
dreams of expanding the Cooking for Cancer program. She hopes someday to install
a full kitchen in the hospital, but her larger goal is to help parents beyond
the walls of MedStar Georgetown.
“There’s a feeling of not being in control of the situation when your child
is sick,” Navidi says. “And when you’re cooking something they like, when you
feel that you’re helping. . . . That’s everything.”
The “Happily Hungry: Smart Recipes for Kids With Cancer” cookbook is
available for purchase online at
Amazon.com. For information about the program at MedStar
Georgetown, call 202-342-2400.
