Braden Hofen made his first painting with art teacher Shawn Stelter when he was four years old. Stelter and his mom painted his hands and feet and carried him, helping him create a wave spiral of prints that mixed with the handprints and footprints of his brother, Zach Hofen. At the time, Braden had been diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer. He wasn’t supposed to survive.

Braden is now 10 years old and has been fighting cancer for seven years. He was diagnosed when he was three, and the cancer relapsed when he was five.

“It’s kind of sad how it started, really, but Deliece [his mother] wanted some way to remember what his feet and hands felt like because she didn’t know how long he’d be around,” Stelter said. “So a lot of the stuff [we make] is his hands and footprints, and it’s just for her, so she has that.”

Even though there was no known cure for relapsing neuroblastoma, the family decided to continue treatment in hopes of prolonging his life. Braden went through everything from chemotherapy to radiation to other targeted treatments, but art gave him something else to focus on. When he was in the hospital for almost a month, he would spend time painting watercolors during the chemotherapy that lasted for days at a time.

“Braden absolutely loves to paint, and it was kind of one of the things that was really good for him when he was going through treatment,” Deliece Hofen said. “It’s something that he really likes to do, and it’s also something that you have forever.”

A couple of months ago, when Braden was receiving a bone marrow transplant in Philadelphia, both a regular and a 3D art therapist came to see him. They were trained to use the creative process of art-making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals, according to The American Art Therapy Association.

“It gives them [cancer patients] something to think about other than the treatment steps that they’re going through,” Deliece said. “It kind of is just letting them reclaim a little piece of normal in their lives.”

After he got out of the hospital, Braden continued creating art with Stelter. While Braden’s love of art helped him escape from his treatment, Stelter’s love of art started when she was a kid.

Stelter discovered that she loved creating art with kids the summer before seventh grade. Her art teacher asked if she would be interested in helping her teach kindergarten through second graders that summer at a six week event called Art in the Park, where the kids met at a shelter to work on art projects. That experience made Stelter decide she wanted to be an art teacher, and she pursued this goal all the way through college.

“I fell in love with the excitement that the kids would have on their face when they made something really fun,” Stelter said. “It was so cool to see their eyes light up when they were so proud of something that they made with their hands.”

But Stelter also loved math and science. At one point during the first few months of her freshman year of college, she set up a meeting with her counselor to switch her major from art education to molecular biology. As she was walking to the meeting, however, she talked herself out of it. Art education was more of her fit — where her day was constantly changing and no two days would be the same. She wouldn’t have the same interaction with people if she had switched career paths.

“When you’re creating art, I think everybody’s barriers go down, and you open up, and you’re more expressive,” Stelter said.

“It allows us to connect with our inner child. It lets us go back to those carefree days when you can take risks and you can play and you were never judged. It puts you in touch with your heart. It’s so hard to put into words — it’s so much feeling and emotion that go into it, when you’re truly creating and you’re not afraid of what you’re making.”

Stelter later met Deliece in 1997, when Deliece was her assistant principal at Harmony Middle School, so she has known Braden since he was born. The second time Braden got sick, Deliece gave up her position as an administrator to stay at home, where she now runs the foundation Braden’s Hope. Around that time, Stelter and Braden began making art because it was something they both love and can do together.

But their paintings also have another purpose. Each year at the Hope Gala, one of the fundraisers for Braden’s Hope, their artwork is sold at an auction. The goal of the auction, among other fundraisers, is to eventually raise money to benefit childhood cancer research. Doctors submit grant proposals for the kind of research they want to do, and for every $100,000 Braden’s Hope raises, the organization can award a grant to doctors to start their research. At last year’s auction, two of Braden and Stelter’s paintings sold for around $2,500 apiece.

“[Braden] absolutely adores her [Stelter], and he likes to paint, so we thought it’d be cool if we just did a painting that we sold at the gala,” Deliece said. “He just loves her and he would just do anything to go spend time with her, and that’s a really special wonderful deal for him, and I think the act of doing art is something that’s pretty important to him — he just loves to do it.”

In the past, the girls softball team and boys basketball team have raised money for the organization through HOPE Hits and a silent auction, and other students have volunteered on their own. Sophomore Emily Peuser said she grew up knowing the Hofens and their story because her mom was a teacher at Stanley Elementary school when Deliece was the principal. The Peusers have supported the family through the walks and fundraisers organized by Braden’s Hope.

“He’s just really energetic and he is fun and always uplifting and just really has no negative energy in his body,” Peuser said. “I think it’s really important to get involved with Braden’s Hope, not only to help a local person to help fight cancer because he’s fought it all his life, but to just help other kids, even adults, with cancer. It means that you shouldn’t give up. Braden’s fought this long, so we should.”

In July 2013 Braden was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), a bone marrow failure disorder, but he is currently in remission from each cancer and is showing no signs of the diseases. Stelter and Braden see each other every few months to bowl, play basketball or create art. Stelter says she still doesn’t get to see him nearly enough. He has helped her believe that people should do as much as they can in a day and see every day as an unopened gift.

“No matter how sick he’s been or gets, you can never tell because when you see him, he’s so excited to see you,” Stelter said. “I don’t know how else to describe his excitement except [like a kid at Christmas] — like if you’re given a gift, and you’re just so excited to open it up and see what’s inside. That’s kind of the way he lives every single day.”

Gallery • 10 Photos

• This year, Deliece and Stelter are organizing a new event specifically for students at Southwest. On Saturday, April 18, students can volunteer to work with kids who have cancer. The art rooms will be divided up by the age groups of the kids, and students will help the kids make two pieces of art — one to keep and one to auction off at the next Hope Gala in September. Students who are interested should talk to Stelter.
• Visit bradenshope.org for more information and volunteer opportunities.