Laboriously hand-stitching for several four-hour intervals might not seem like most children's favorite thing to do, but the kids who Fischer visits cannot wait.

Fischer works with children hospitalized for long-term care. And her dolls are not just simple cut-and-paste creations, but hand-stitched, one-of-a-kind dolls that take hours and sometimes several visits to complete.

Raggedy Ann cannot compete with these dolls, each one designed to fit the child's tastes and interests.

"I wanted everything purple," said Janessa Sales, 13, explaining how she picked her doll Annabelle's appearance. "It was really fun."

Sales made her doll in March while she was in Children's Hospital Oakland because of a brain tumor.

The teenager was being hospitalized a second time after the tumor grew back, and making the doll was a bright spot for her during the stay.

"If I didn't go through the procedure a second time around, I would have never met (Fischer) or made this doll," she said.

A year ago, Fischer received a $5,000 grant through the City of Oakland's Cultural Arts Funding Program for Individual Artists. Last year she worked four days a week and made dolls with more than 50 families through the Child Life Programs at Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland and Kaiser Permanente. She works mostly with cancer patients at the Bone Marrow Transplant Center in each hospital.

Lorraine Sales, Janessa's mother, worked closely with Fischer and her daughter and even made her own doll.

"It gave her something to do," said Lorraine Sales. "It's really therapeutic."

Each doll is unique and reflects the child who makes it. Some have qualities similar to their creator, down to miniature broviacs — a catheter inserted above the heart for medical procedures — and knit caps often worn by cancer patients who lose their hair during chemotherapy. Some don't even have a human form. Dogs and dinosaurs are among creatures that young patients have made.

"When I began, I had no idea the need was so great for this kind of individual work for people whose whole lives are revolving around their illnesses," Fischer said.

Fischer first started making dolls when she was pregnant with her first of three daughters 15 years ago. She kept up with the hobby but got the idea to work with young patients after talking with the daughter of a friend who had just been diagnosed with alopecia, a condition that causes severe hair loss. The girl, Leah Wollenburg, asked for a doll with no hair.

"It was representative of what she was dealing with," Fischer said. "It led me to think of other kids in the same situation."

Fischer recently learned that the city grant has been given to her again, which will let her continue her program for another year. The grant helps her buy materials and supplies needed for making the dolls.

Fischer's work can be viewed at http://www.dolls4artsake.com.

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