Helping Families Art Exhibit

We are hosting our 4th Annual Helping Families Art Exhibit, where artists and photographers have come together to raise money using their creative gifts. All of the art sales proceeds help support families who are struggling financially because their child is battling cancer.

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Our Mission

To provide financial support for families who are struggling to make ends meet because their child is battling cancer.

Our Care Program

2013 STORIES TO COME!

December 08, 2012
This child has unfortunately passed away. During the course of his treatment, his family sunk further into debt. Having some help would enable them to start the financial recovery process. Their son was diagnosed with AML (Acute myeloid leukemia- blood cancer) in 2009. He relapsed in 2010 and had a transplant. His mother told me her son had a passion for helping others with cancer and loved the Ed Hardy t-shirt brand. He joined heaven in September 2012. We helped by paying this families rent for January and February. Each month was $1,554.79.
Total: $3,109.58

November 30, 2012
Our last family is in a situation where the mother and her husband have separated and are living in different cities. The mother is taking care of their fifteen-year-old daughter who has been battling Acute Myeloid Leukemia (cancer of the blood) since November. She is currently in the hospital with this aggressive type of cancer. Initially, they thought she had the flu, but after it didn't go away they took her into the hospital for tests and found out she had cancer. She is on her second cycle of chemo and will be staying in the hospital until the spring. This family also has a son who is staying with the father. The son has a disability and needs care at home so the father is taking care of him. We helped this family by paying the rent for the mom for January and a portion of February. Total: $1,500.

November 28, 2012
This family is headed by a single mother, raising three kids on her own. Her daughter, who is thirteen years old, was just diagnosed with Leukemia in October. They figured out she had cancer when she had a nose bleed that wouldn't stop, so her Mom took her to the hospital. They did some tests and told her that her daughter has cancer. Five years ago, the child's grandmother died of Leukemia as well. The hospital also told her that Leukemia is not hereditary, they just both happen to have been diagnosed with it. She has stopped working in order to be with her daughter full-time. At times, money is tight, especially trying to find the extra money to afford parking when they go into the hospital for treatment. Because of your donations, we were able to purchase parking passes for and gas vouchers. Total: $736

November 23, 2012
A family that we have helped had their 22-month-old son pass away. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in October of 2011. They were having financial problems at the end of their son's illness when neither parent was working. Power was cut off last month until a family member loaned them $500. The mom was working at one point but didn't have enough hours for to qualify for Employment Insurance. They were able to take their son home during the last few months of his battle, which required 24 hour care at home. The father took time off work to assist with the care at home and to be with him during this difficult time before he passed away. This stress has added to their emotional burden. Shortly after he passed away, they found out that the machines they had needed to keep their son at home had caused their utility bill to skyrocket to over $600 a month! We helped this family pay for the back log of their utility bills for $1613.24 and a portion of their funeral costs for $2,000. We hope that this can help the family have less stress about their financial position and start their healing process. Total: $3,613.24

November 13, 2012
We have helped this family in the past. Their son's health has been hard to predict; he is very sensitive to chemotherapy. Recently he had to go to the hospital multiple times for blood tests and blood transfusions due to the chemotherapy being too strong for him. The doctors are still trying to figure out which amount of dosage would be the most compatible. Gas and parking is getting expensive since this family lives in Chestermere. Helping Families was able to cover two parking passes for this family for the next 6 months and $300 worth of gas vouchers. Total: $460

October 22, 2012
The son of one of our previous family's son is still very ill. His family had to stay at the hospital for twelve weeks while he fought an infection. He is now back on chemo and will be on treatment for at least another year. They lived at the hospital practically the entire time he was there and barely had a chance to go home at all. We helped by paying their rent for two months.
Total: $2,900

October 05, 2012
This family's son was diagnosed with a mix germ cell cancer. He is on the tail end of his first chemo cycle and is currently waiting for the second cycle. He has done extremely well with his chemo treatments so far and hasn't even taken any pain killers yet! This is good news, as the doctors think he will probably have to do four more cycles because the tumor is in his abdomen and his cancer is very high risk. We helped this family by paying for broviac supplies and a mortgage payment. Total: $2,084.07

October 04, 2012
This family's fourteen-year-old daughter is battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma, while her mother is struggling to work as much as she can to support her family on a single income. The single mother has been using her line of credit to cover household expenses when pay is short due to hospital visits. Bills are piling up so we helped by paying some medication costs, parking for one month, and groceries. Total: $767.44

September 24, 2012
This family has a son who has been battling Leukemia (ALL) for the past two years. Part of his treatment has included chemotherapy. His father has been working full-time to try and keep the family afloat so the mother can take care of their son while he is in the hospital. We helped this family by paying part of their rent. Total: $1,000

September 19, 2012
This family has a daughter who was just diagnosed with cancer a month ago. She has finished her second round of chemotherapy and hasn't been feeling very well. They have five other children so money has been tight. We helped this family by paying their broviac supplies for six months as well as some medication costs that were not covered through the parents' work benefits. Total: $1,099.28

September 07, 2012
This family's child is battling Osteosarcoma in her lower left leg. She is suffering from seizures, which doctors believe are being caused from a combination of pain medication and chemotherapy. While the parents are at work, they need someone who can be responsible for looking after their daughter Because they both work in order to facilitate treatment costs and their other child is still too young to help out, a caregiver is required to come into the house while both parents are at work. Helping Families will be supporting this family until the end of December. Total: $4,654

September 05, 2012
One of our families had a six-month-old daughter with a brain tumor, who has tragically now passed away. The mother is not working and the father just went on stress leave and is making only 70 per cent of his wages. They both needed some time off in order to cope with their terrible loss. Thanks to you we were able to pay for their rent for three months to give them some room to breathe. Total: $3,000.

August 20, 2012
This family has a fourteen-year-old daughter who has been diagnosed with Acute Myelocytic Leukemia and will be hospitalized for the next seven months. This is a nasty type of Leukemia and she hasn't responded to chemotherapy in the way they were hoping. She is recovering but hasn't been able to eat for two weeks. She has lots of infections and is starting to break down a little bit. They are from British Columbia, so it is difficult being away from home. Her fighting strength to get better is being driven by her love and desire to go skiing again. The family will be staying in Calgary until their daughter's treatment is complete. We were able to help alleviate a lot of pressure from this family by taking care of their car payments for the next six months and their rent for the next three months. Total: $4,260.

August 20, 2012
We have helped this family in the past. Their son has Rhabdomyosarcoma (tumor) in his brain. The father is still working but the monthly expenses have exceeded their budget. They had called an ambulance one day for their son unexpectedly. Money is tight and they weren't sure how they were going to afford it. Their insurance paid for only 80 per cent of the bill, so Helping Families is covering the other 20 per cent. Every donation to Helping Families goes a long way!
Total: $70.35

August 13, 2012
This family has a child who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April 2012. Although both parents are currently working, they weren't for a while when their daughter first started treatment. The mother just returned to work recently but the bills have been piling up. They were visiting the hospital on a regular basis and it was getting difficult to afford parking every time. We helped this family by paying for their parking passes for a year. Total: $720.

August 13, 2012
A mother we have assisted in the past had to bring her two-year-old daughter in from out of town for four days to receive some not-so-good news from the hospital. The daughter has been fighting Neuroblastma since February of last year, while her mother is working to support four kids on a single income. The mother was worried because she didn't have any extra money, let alone the cost for meals when she brought her daughter and her kids down here. We purchased restaurant gift cards for her so that they could make it down here with one less thing to worry about. Total: $180
July 29, 2012
This single mother lost her daughter Samantha to cancer on in May 2012. Although we have paid for her to take the family to Saskatoon to bury her daughter, she didn't feel like she had time to grieve. She was surrounded by family and everything happened so quickly. We paid for the mother only to travel back return trip to Saskatoon to say a proper goodbye to her daughter.
Total: $202

July 19, 2012
This family's single mother has a son who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) during May of this year. Her son is currently in the hospital with some infections. He just finished his first round of chemotherapy but can't start his second until his infections have been treated and he is feeling better. We helped this family by paying $650 in back rent (which they were having trouble catching up on) as well as two upcoming months for $1450 each. Now the family has some breathing room and can focus on caring for the son. Total: $3,550.

July 24, 2012
This family has an eighteen-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma in June of 2010. Unfortunately she has relapsed and now has stage 4 Ewing's Sarcoma. She is receiving treatment on a five-days-in two-days-off, five-days-in nine-days-off rotation. Money has been very tight due to unpaid bills as a result of last year's treatments. We were able to help pay down their credit card debt. Right now, they are focused on the present and supporting their daughter through this difficult time. Not having this black cloud over their heads really helps!
Total: $3,600

July 03, 2012
This family has a daughter that is eleven weeks old and was just diagnosed with cancer. Because this family lives in a Hutterite colony, the family is only given a minimum amount of pocket money. Although the colony covers a lot for the family, they require gas to go to and from the hospital. Their daughter is about to undergo intensive therapy over the course of the next six to twelve months. We were able to help this family by providing gas money for one trip per week for six months. Total: $2,700

June 1, 2012
One of our families has a 15-year-old son that had been complaining of hip pain, which ended up being cancer (Ewing's Sarcoma). The cancer has now spread to his eye, head, and lungs, so this family has a big battle to fight. The family lives in Vulcan, Alberta and drives over two hours for treatment. Their son is one of seven children. We were able to help them out by issuing a parking pass for them for the next ten months, giving gas vouchers to help them with the expense of driving to and from the Children's Hospital, and meal vouchers for when they are in town receiving treatment. TOTAL COST: $ 2,810.

May 15, 2012
This family has a 19-month-old daughter who was diagnosed with Wilms tumor. She has stage one cancer and they removed her left kidney. She is currently receiving chemo treatments, to make sure that there are no more cancer cells left. She is just starting to feel better after having her kidney removed. We were able to help this family by paying for parking passed and gas vouchers for a total of $730.

May 7, 2012
One of our families has a 13-year-old child who is battling Osteosarcoma (bone tumor) in the lower left leg. The father works but the mother had to quit her job due to the child's health situation. We don't have the final bill yet because this will be for the next 10 months. We will be covering roughly $950 in parking, $1,250 in Medical supplies (broviac supplies) and roughly $1,600 in special transportation. Total bill should be around $3,800.

May 8, 2012
As I mentioned a few months back, for the first time, we had one of our families lose their battle against cancer. Their daughter fought Leukemia for 2 years. We got a call from the social worker saying that the family couldn't afford bus tickets from Calgary to Saskatoon for the family to go and bury their daughter with the rest of her family. We were able to give them a return bus ticket to Saskatoon and back for the family totaling $549.78. At a time like that, Helping Families is there to help make difficult times a little bit easier.

April 17, 2012
Another one of our families that we have helped in the past has a son who is still fighting Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and is currently experiencing some complications with his health. Since this is their son's second relapse in his battle against cancer, the family is really feeling the financial stress. We were able to help them out by providing $350 worth of gas gift cards so they could afford to take their son to and from the hospital for his treatments.

April 13, 2012
A family that we helped back in January is requiring some additional help. The daughter is recovering from her chemo treatments but her body hasn't been responding to it very well. It's been a long journey because she has been fighting Leukemia since Dec 2010, but she is looking forward to getting a bone marrow transplant from her older brother. This family has four kids (two of them being over 18). The daughter has been in the hospital since January and things are getting tougher now. The mother visits the hospital every day and leaves in the evening. We helped out this family by providing $600 in grocery gift cards because money is tight; this way, over the next several months she has enough money to pack a lunch every day.

April 4, 2012
Today's family has a son who was diagnosed with Rhabomyosarcoma (tumor) in his brain. The mother had to stop her post-secondary education to be there for her son. The father is still working but the monthly expenses have exceeded their budget. Their son is having chemo treatments but they are struggling to pay for treatment costs that aren't covered. Helping Families is able to step in pay for those extra medical expenses so that their son can get what he needs to beat his cancer. We were also able to help the family out with a parking pass so that they could easily visit their son every day. Cost: $95 for a month parking pass + medical expenses (to be determined).

April 2, 2012
For this family, the Mother does not drive and her daughter is receiving treatment for her relapse at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. The father works and does not have paid time off because they need to keep a roof over their head. The Mom has found it difficult to find rides as she has another young daughter that she needs to bring along too. They also cannot take public transit because her daughter is on treatment. Thanks to you, Helping Families was able to provide support by paying for 17 trips in a vehicle that is specifically meant for children on treatment. The family paid for one way and we paid for the other. Total bill paid $327.60.

March 27, 2012
Our family today has a son that is currently hospitalized battling Lymphoma and is on his 5th round of chemo. His Mom is a single mother working as a receptionist and earns less than $24,000/year, which isn't a lot when you have two boys in the house. We were able to help her out by paying for a parking pass for her to allow her to visit her son daily. Total: $95.

March 19, 2012
Our latest family has a three year old daughter who has been battling brain cancer over a year. One night their daughter was having problems at home and they needed to call an ambulance for her. This family couldn't afford to pay it because the father works and the mother stays with their daughter. They recently received a final notice for their ambulance bill and on top of everything they were going through, they were about to be sent to collections. They also couldn't afford to pay for oxygen that their daughter needed when she was allowed back home. Because of your donations we were able to help out by paying $410 for their bills.

March 17, 2012
Another one of our families that we have helped in the past once more needs some additional assistance with affording hospital passes. Their son has been fighting Ewing's Sarcoma for two and a half years. We were able to help them out by providing 3 month of parking passes so that they can spend more time with their son. TOTAL $295

March 17, 2012
One of our single fathers that we have helped in the past is still struggling financially. He has left his job so that he can be here in Calgary with his son as much as possible; if you can believe it, this Dad is so dedicated he has been crashing on his friend's couches here in Calgary. We were able to help him out and provide him with gas vouchers for another 3 round trips to Calgary so that he can continue to visit his son. His son is battling Osteosarcoma since October 2011.

March 8, 2012
This family has a 16-year-old son who has been battling Osteosarcoma for the last 4 months. The mother has 3 daughters who had to stay with a family friend while she brought her son in for treatment, so that they didn't miss school and fall behind. Her son had an operation to take the tumor out of his knee and is experiencing lots of pain; he was put on stronger chemo because they wanted to make sure that they killed all of the cancer cells. His chemo should be done by September if they are lucky. We were able to help this family out by providing $600 worth of grocery gift cards, to help support the family friend, who is also a single mother with two kids of her own. We also were able to give them gas vouchers, so that the family friend could drive the boy's sister up to see him a few times from Fort Macleod.

February 8, 2012
This family has a 16-year-old daughter who has been battling Leukemia for the past two years. The daughter is almost done treatment but has been in the hospital more often now because she has been really sick over the last month. Her mom has no other support in place. We were able to help this family by lunch and dinner at the hospital for two weeks. Total: $154. This makes a big difference to families who are at the hospital day in and day out.

February 8, 2012
One of our families needed to Travel from Coalman, Alberta to the Children's Hospital here in Calgary for their daughter's checkup. She has been battling Rhabdomyosarcoma since July 2004. This has been a long 8-year journey for this family. The mother did not have enough money to bring her daughter to a checkup that she really needed. Because of your donations, we were able to help this family with gas vouchers, meal vouchers at the Children's and a hotel room to stay at while they were here overnight. It only took $228 to change this family's day. Thank you for all you do to support us!

January 27, 2012
Our next family has a son that was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in December 2010 and is currently experiencing some viral infection complications. The parents were very independent when their son was diagnosed the first time around. However, now that their son is on his second year of treatment, the parents can no longer handle the financial stress themselves and have reached out for help. We were able to step up and help this family with gas vouchers for a total of $350 so that they could get to and from the hospital to visit their son.

January 9, 2012
This family's 14-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma on November 11, 2011. The father works but the mother doesn't so she can take care of their daughter. This is a family that we have helped in the past, and they needed help again for another 3 months' worth of parking passes, at a cost of $285.

January 7, 2012
We were able to help another one of our families by paying their childcare for a month. They have a 3-year-old daughter who is fighting Rhabdomyoscarcoma (the same cancer our Executive Director, Carie Stock, had). She has two other children that need to be watched during the day while she is at the hospital with her daughter. Her daughter is at the Children's currently going through surgery of her bladder. This family has been struggling to pay for childcare due to loss on income from being at the hospital full time. Even the father has taken time off work to be with his daughter. Thanks to you, this family now does not have to worry about this month's child care bill.

January 6, 2012
Our latest family is one from BC who needs a reliable cell phone since the father travels far for appointments to be with his son, who has been battling a brain tumor since August 2011. We were able to hook him up with cell phone minutes so he can talk to his son, get updates on his son's health, and have a way to contact him if there is an emergency.

January 6, 2012
Our latest family is one from BC who needs a reliable cell phone since the father travels far for appointments to be with his son, who has been battling a brain tumor since August 2011. We were able to hook him up with cell phone minutes so he can talk to his son, get updates on his son's health, and have a way to contact him if there is an emergency.

2011 Donations In Action

Read All of HFHC's 2011 Stories

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