The Spark

Cheekee Hero was born out of a conversation between strangers from two different worlds but with similarities that had deep empathy and gentleness for each other.

Sian gave Lox a beautiful gift. A box that was filled with gorgeous red monster cards, all with different facial expressions that represented feelings. An initiative that Sian was a big part of creating as the illustrator for Monster Conversations. These cards are a mechanism to help spark conversations around feelings and emotions and are a very powerful tool to help children and adolescents communicate. Lox fell in love with these monsters and fell in love with Sian.

Lox was immediately drawn to her and was comforted by her softness and ability to hear him and he thought her ticks were "cute".

Sian took inspiration in creating Cheekee Hero from Lox. She focused all her energy on him and listened to his every word. Lox wanted a robot that was friendly and kind and could fly but could also put up a good fight!

Cheekee is a metaphor for a child's kindness, resilience, joy, and more. Cheekee will take us on a journey of discovery and help us find our own inner strengths and joy for life.

Sian lives with Tourette's and was diagnosed at age 15 whilst attending St Peter's Cambridge. She is an amazing artist and specialises in digital illustration who featured on the television programme, 'Living with Tourette's' and we were lucky enough to connect with her and her mum Renee.

Tourette's is a neurological disorder that is incredibly misunderstood. It is crippling and can be very draining and isolating - these 3 elements alone are what Childhood Cancer and Tourette's have in common and why I believe there was an immediate connection.

Sian is our gentle creative who has breathed life into our Cheekee Hero and we are so very grateful for all her valuable time and enery that she has given to us.

We would also like to take this opportunity to throw a big mihi (acknowledgment) and aroha (love) out to 2B Media and Screen2Script Limited for connecting us to our sweet Sian. Without this beautiful connection we would never have had the privilege of meeting such wonderful people.