Katherine Alderfer loves to paint and draw and color.

But she’s not just playing.

For her, creating a piece of art is nearly as good as medicine in helping her feel better.

Katherine, 5, has an illness so rare that only two in a million children have it, says her mother, Kristine Alderfer of Winona Lake.

Katherine’s body mistakenly thinks her muscles are foreign invaders. It tries to fight them off with chemicals. But the chemicals damage her skin and other organs inside her body.

She gets rashes and her muscles weaken so much she can hardly walk or climb stairs. Being outside in the sun makes the damage worse. So she has to avoid the sun and use lots of sunscreen.

Every week, Katherine travels to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis so medicine can be put into her blood. And that’s where she met Michelle Itczak.

Itczak is an art therapist who helps children. She urged Katherine to start drawing and painting on the days she had her treatments.

“In the beginning, when they did art therapy, she’d have her head covered with a blanket. That was the way she coped with being in the hospital,” her mother says. “After a few times at therapy, she perked right up.

“It’s amazing to see.”

Katherine loved going to art therapy so much that her mother asked whether her twin sister, Caroline, who doesn’t have Katherine’s illness, could be included. Now, the two of them sometimes create paintings together.

Recently, one of Katherine’s paintings was chosen to appear in a 2012 calendar that was given to 1,300 patients, families and other guests at an annual luncheon sponsored by Riley Children’s Foundation. The foundation raises money for the hospital and its programs.

Another area girl, Sarah Camino of Fort Wayne, also had a painting included. Sarah, 13, who has a joint condition, says she also uses writing to cope. She likes to ride horseback and hopes to show horses competitively someday.

Katherine’s painting shows a bouquet of yellow flowers along with her handprint in purple among what she says are butterflies.

“I like to paint flowers,” she says. “I just like to play with paints. I like to put paint on bubble wrap and pop it on the paper.”

Katherine says she thinks kids who aren’t as sick as she is sometimes could use painting and drawing to make themselves feel better.

Her mother agrees. She and Katherine’s father Alan have been so impressed with the art therapy program they’ve helped raise money for it.

“I think for other kids, just being able to use art when you’re not feeling so great makes you feel better,” Kristine Alderfer says.

“It takes your mind off feeling yucky, and it puts your mind in a happy place.”

rsalter@jg.net