A mum never forgets those words.
Chantelle still cries now when she thinks about the doctor sitting her down in the Parents Room at the Children’s Hospital, and telling her and husband Tim their little girl Jazmyn had cancer.
“That was when I broke. My world shattered around me. I was crying and shaking. Tim just grabbed me and held me tight.”
Cancer. Every parent’s worst nightmare. Every grandparent’s greatest fear.
Jaz’s cancer is a rare one – neuroblastoma. It affects only 1 in 100,000 children. But if you are that one child, your life changes forever.
Neuroblastoma is hard to detect because the symptoms look just like ‘normal’ childhood sicknesses. Indeed, Jaz’s doctors first thought she had severe growing pains.
Yet those pains signalled a tumour growing from the abdomen, up the spinal cord, into the skull.
Treatment is tough. In the last year Jaz had 8 rounds of chemo, her tumour removed by surgery, 2 more rounds of high dose chemo, 2 stem cell transplants, radiation and 6 rounds of immunotherapy.
All that before she turned 9 years old.
So, what can you do for a child with cancer like Jaz?
I’ll let mum Chantelle tell you.
"Through all this, only a couple of things have kept Jaz going. Her teacher Julia is one of them. Without her, Jaz would be very, very behind in school.”
You see, thanks to people like you, through Fight Cancer Foundation and the Back on Track education support program, children fighting cancer like Jaz can have a teacher come to their bedside.
The child can learn. Have fun. Think about a world outside the hospital. Forget about their treatment for a while. That’s why we call it Back on Track.
Your kindness is needed urgently now to help make sure no child fighting cancer misses out on education.
Please donate now to provide bedside lessons for children with cancer, like Jaz.
Your gift is tax-deductible, but more importantly it takes your care directly to the bedside of a child in hospital fighting cancer.
Your kindness will do FOUR vital thing for the child you help:
1. Catch up and continue their education
2. Stay in touch with their school and friends
3. Keep up to their current school level
4. Transition back to school when treatment is complete
That all adds up to helping a child with cancer get ‘back on track’ and feel ‘normal’ again.
You can’t put a price on that. Chantelle says:
“Jaz looks forward to her time with her teacher. Julia knows how to interact with Jaz when she’s well and being cheeky…and also when she is feeling sick and can’t talk.
It helps me too, because I get the chance to take a little break from the constant care and worry.”
You do all this, when you donate to help a child fighting cancer continue learning.
Your kindness helps provide schooling in FOUR ways:
1. Face to face with the child you help
2. Bedside learning
3. Clinic waiting rooms
4. Interactive online programs
Each year, more than 950 children and teenagers are diagnosed with cancer in Australia. On average, the illness and treatment mean they miss up to six months of school.
While we cannot heal every cancer. Together we can make sure each child fighting cancer has a teacher like Julia right beside them.
Teaching. Coaching. Laughing. Caring. Inspiring. Reassuring. Giving Hope. Saving lives.
You may not be able to teach like Julia, caring for 26 children at any given time, but you can be the kind person who provides the school books and bedside-time and online lessons.
Chantelle has a message she asked to share with you:
“Thank you for what you do for children like my little girl Jazmyn. You don’t know how much it means to us that she can still have the schooling she needs while she fights her cancer. Thank you!”