As special events go, arguably the most special is when cancer patients reach the end of their treatment at which time it is traditional to have a bell-ringing ceremony. This involves the patient, their family members, friends, and medical staff gathering around a large bell. A special poem is read aloud and then the patient rings the bell to signify that they have reached the end of active treatment.
The bell rings to mark the celebratory moment. A wave of emotions washes over you – relief, joy, immense pride. You’ve conquered a mountain, faced down a fierce opponent, and emerged victorious. Ringing the bell at the end of cancer treatment is a powerful tradition, a moment to celebrate your incredible strength and resilience. But how do you make this milestone even more meaningful?
How Did Ringing The Bell Start
The bell-ringing tradition to signify the end of cancer treatment is a relatively recent one, dating back to the mid-1990s. It’s believed to have originated at MD Anderson Cancer facility in Texas, USA. Inspired by the deep tradition within the Navy of ringing a bell to mark a successful mission, a patient undergoing radiation treatment named U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Irve Le Moyne installed a bell at the centre in 1996. This act of ringing a bell to celebrate a milestone in the fight against cancer quickly resonated with other patients and staff.
The symbolic ringing of a bell offers a powerful way for patients to celebrate completing a gruelling treatment regimen. It became a public ceremony, often witnessed by family, friends, and medical staff. The tradition’s popularity spread quickly, and today, ringing a bell is a common practice in cancer treatment centres around the world. This shared experience fosters a sense of community and can provide encouragement to those still undergoing treatment. For us though, we found bell-ringing ceremonies very difficult to watch until it got closer to the end of the Dinosaur’s treatment and the child ringing the bell was the child of one of our friends.
An Inspirational Poem
When someone reaches the end of their cancer journey and it is time for their special moment, there is a poem that is read out, either by the patient or in the case of a childhood cancer patient it can be read by their family or a member of their medical team.
The poem is:
“Ring this bell, three times well, it’s toll to clearly say, my treatment’s done, this course is run, and now I’m on my way!”
In 2020 it was realised that the bell ringing tradition was quite tough for people who would never reach the end of treatment. At this time, a second poem was added and in these cases, the bell is referred to as a Milestone Bell. The newest poem is:
“This bell is here for you to ring, while those around you cheer and sing, already you have come so far, you’re stronger than you think you are. The journey’s hard, make no mistake, each day, small steps you need to take, with love and strength to you we say, this bell will help you on your way!”
How You Can Mark The Ringing Of The Bell
On 4th February 2022, which was also World Cancer Day, the Dinosaur received his cancer diagnosis, he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia when he was just 4 years old. He went on to have over two years of chemo treatments and it is anticipated that he will make a full recovery. Although he is now classed as in remission and is in good health, it feels a little too early for me to bring myself to say that he has made a full recovery but I’m sure that will come in time. It is important to remember that however you are feeling is valid, for some the end of treatment isn’t quite the joyous occasion that people expect. There may be ongoing side effects, additional treatment to complete further scans or checks to go through and feelings of anger about everything that has happened. Cancer is a devastating diagnosis and treatment can be horrific at times, it will take time to move past the memory of treatment distress and it’s ok to take some time to acknowledge the traumatic experience that your family has gone through. The important thing is to do what feels right for your family.
For us, the Dinosaur’s last day of treatment was 10th March 2024 which was Mother’s Day, that was the greatest Mother’s Day gift I have ever received, nothing can ever top that! As he still had his port in place he didn’t want to ring the end-of-treatment bell until the port was out. He had his final surgery on 18th March 2024 to remove his port and then a couple of days later, on 20th March 2024, he finally had his special award ceremony and his turn to ring the bell. Boy did he ring it loud and proud! I’m sure the entire hospital heard him.
We wanted to mark this momentous occasion and here’s how we celebrated bell ringing day:
T-Shirts
I wanted us all to wear matching t-shirts so I went on Canva a designed what I wanted then went to a local printing shop, Forest Apparel, to have the designs printed onto blue t-shirts. We went for blue because that’s his favourite colour. We did think about gold to represent childhood cancer or orange to represent leukaemia but felt that his favourite colour was the most appropriate choice.
Each t-shirt had a superhero on and then the text was slightly different, the Dinosaur’s “I beat cancer, what’s your superpower?”; the Unicorn’s said “My brother is my favourite superhero” and the parent t-shirts said, “My son is a superhero, he beat cancer”.
Cape
On the day of the bell ceremony, I wanted the whole world to know what a superhero my little boy was and so, to continue with the superhero theme, I also got a cape and eye mask from Amazon for him to wear with his t-shirt. He is a superhero and he certainly looked the part on the day!
Bunting
I visited Mystical Cat a couple of weeks before we went to the hospital for the port removal surgery because she had set aside some handmade fabric dinosaur bunting. I dropped this off at the hospital with the play team so they could decorate on bell ringing day before we arrived. As we were leaving I gathered up the bunting to take home with us so we could reuse it for birthdays and end-of-treatment anniversary celebrations.
Cake
As we were celebrating, I wanted to make sure we had some delicious cake to share with the staff after the ceremony. The Dinosaur had 3 criteria for this very special cake:
- It had to be chocolate cake, this is his favourite flavour and whenever we see family for their birthdays he insists that they must have chocolate cake
- It had to be blue because that is his favourite colour
- It had to have dinosaurs because he is a palaeontologist
I contacted a charity called Cakes for Heroes who put me in touch with a local cake maker called The Sweet Spot Cakery. They pulled out all the stops and created a cake that not only hit the brief from the Dinosaur but it tasted utterly delicious. To top it all off, the cake was even delivered to the hospital on the day of the bell ringing for me to save me having to drive over and pick it up and then worry about transporting it.
The day after the bell ringing I took a lot of cake to school as well, these cakes were just from Tesco. For the Dinosaur’s class and the Unicorn’s class, I sent in cupcakes in a range of flavours for the children to share with their classmates. I also sent in some chocolate tray bakes and a ‘chocolate’ free from cake to go in the staffroom. We were celebrating and we wanted everyone to celebrate with us!
Cards
I wanted to get some thank you cards for the hospital staff as well as for key members of the school staff to thank them for their hard work and dedication in keeping my boy well and quite simply saving his life. I decided to get personalised cards made with Moon Pig so that they could have pictures and messages. The card for the hospital included some funny things that the Dinosaur has said over the last couple of years as well as photos of the family throughout treatment.
The cards for school staff were given to those who had taken special care of him or had an increased workload because of his presence on the roll at school.
Hamper
As well as the card and cake for the hospital staff, I also wanted to arrange a gift that could easily be shared, especially as there were some staff who were not able to join us on the day. I decided to put together a basket of goodies to go in the staff break room. It was filled with things like tea, coffee, biscuits, chocolates, crisps and the Dinosaur’s favourite sweets. It was greatly appreciated and I don’t think it lasted very long, I’m not even sure it made it to the end of the week, to be honest!
Bubbles
I had wanted to get something like party poppers or a confetti cannon to use to celebrate this huge milestone but I decided that not only were these not great for the environment, but they would also create more work because it would all need cleaning up afterwards. I looked into dried petal confetti and did find a dried petal confetti canon but unfortunately, this got damaged in transit (I think it got wet looking at the state of the box) so it didn’t work properly. In the end, I decided to use bubbles as we came out of the hospital and returned to the car. No mess to clean up and they were fun for the children.
Book
The parents in the Dinosaur’s class surprised us by arranging for a special whole school assembly to celebrate his end of treatment. They had been very busy and all the children had drawn a special picture for him and the pictures were all presented in a beautiful scrapbook that had been hand drawn by Dotty’s Doodles. It is honestly the most beautiful scrapbook I have ever seen and will be treasured forever.
Balloon
The parents also arranged for a special balloon to be presented to us during this assembly. The ballon was thoughtfully done in orange (the colour for leukaemia awareness) and gold (the colour for childhood cancer awareness) and oh my word did it last! It stayed afloat for 3 weeks before it started to sink and then a further week before it started to look wrinkled. The balloon came from Crazy Daisy Balloons which also does things like balloon arches and backdrops which would also make excellent additions to bell-ringing celebrations.
Wreath
I have a bit of a thing for wreaths. I have a wreath for every occasion and swap outdoor wreaths quite often. I couldn’t let an important milestone like the last treatment and bell ringing pass without making a new wreath for my front door to tell the world! I made it myself and it was really simple. I got hold of a plain wire wreath frame and some fabric, I went for gold for childhood cancer awareness and orange for leukaemia awareness. I then cut small strips out of the fabric and tied them to the wreath frame until it was as full as I wanted it. I plan on putting on the door every March to celebrate the end of treatment anniversary and every September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
Don’t forget to take photos and film the moment of the poem being read and the bell being rung, you are going to want to remember this moment. We chose to share the video on social media so that friends, family, and well-wishers could see it. We were feeling over the moon and we wanted to share those good feelings with everyone.
So there you have it! A wealth of creative ideas to personalise the bell-ringing ceremony at your cancer centre. Remember, this is a deeply personal victory for each person and family. Tailoring the experience can make it even more meaningful. Most importantly, let the joyous clang of the bell be a beacon of hope and resilience. It’s a sound that echoes not just within the halls, but throughout the hearts of patients, families, caregivers, and friends. It’s a celebration of strength, a declaration of “I did it!”, and a powerful reminder that brighter days lie ahead. Let the bell ring loud and clear, a testament to the unwavering spirit of those who fight cancer.
