.

Cancer Survivors’ Garden

The park is known as the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Park, and it was dedicated in 1996.

It occupies 2 ¼ acres of land in the Northeast corner of Maggie Daley Park.

The park is designed to be a celebration of life. It is a safe haven for cancer patients and meant to aid them in their healing process. The park is free and open to the public.

The garden located in Chicago is one of 24 Cancer Survivor parks across the country built by the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Foundation. The R.A. Cancer Foundation primarily funded the garden costing $1.3 million to create. Today the park is being maintained as a part of Maggie Daley Park.

Richard Bloch and his brother Henry are the “H” and “R” of H&R Block tax preparation company, which they founded in the 1950s. In 1978, at the age of 52, Richard Bloch was diagnosed with lung cancer and given three months to live. Bloch chose to fight the disease with surgery and aggressive therapy and survived what was told to be “terminal” lung cancer. In 1980 he was pronounced cured and vowed to help others. Along with his wife Annette Bloch, he established a foundation to help others fight and recover from cancer. The foundation has given gifts to create Cancer Survivor’s parks and gardens throughout the nation.

When the foundation offered such a gift to the Chicago Park District in the 1990s, designers Miriam Gusevitch, Julie Gross, and Dan Purciarello developed a scheme specifically for its site on the northeast side of Grant Park.

.

.

.

There are three main garden rooms that represent the three main states of healing:

acceptance, support, and celebration.

.

At its entrance are two 40-foot Corinthian columns salvaged from Chicago’s 1905 Federal Building. The columns are on axis with the classical columns of the Field Museum of Natural History. located at the far south end Grant Park.  Architect Henry Ives Cobb designed the columns. Before being placed in the Cancer Survivors Garden, the columns were submerged near the Lake Michigan shoreline in 1983 to help reinforce a breakwater. The Chicago Architecture Foundation donated the columns to be placed next to the garden’s main pavilion.

.

Cancer Survivors’ Garden

.

Garden Pavilions

The garden contains a total of 3 pavilions. The main pavilion, at the park’s entrance, represents the “Road To Recovery” for cancer patients. Inside the pavilion are 7 plaques explaining the basic steps to overcome cancer. Two other pavilions are located on the southern end of the garden.

.

Perennial Garden Walkway

The perennial garden walkway is lined with flowers, trees, and shrubs. Throughout the path there are 16 plaques that have inspirational quotes and resources for cancer patients. An example of a quote from one of these plaques is, “Make up your mind that when your Cancer is gone, you are through with it”. The path is designed to give cancer patients a positive attitude. Furthermore, this section of the garden can also be rented for events such as weddings.

.

.

.

.

---