Just four months after Allison’s diagnosis, Karen’s mom diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2019, and she passed away only one month later. She was living in California, so Karen so trying to travel back and forth from Chicago at the same time as Allison was sick and her husband was in El Salvador.

Seven months into this journey, her family has realized the huge positive impact and support offered by having a community that understands the difficult aspects of having a child with cancer, and her mom, Lynnie, has also begun to connect with groups outside of the hospital.

“You have no idea how much we appreciate your help, I have no words to express my gratitude. Especially now that we are moving hospitals and will be in Houston, eight hours away, paying our rent makes a huge difference. Thank you,” said Clarissa.

"I especially love the care packages Pinky Swear sends! How do they know us so well? They always send the perfect things! I want to be like Pinky Swear and help people like they help us!”

“You feel isolated. Everyone knows you have a kid with cancer, so it compromises your job prospects, and I became worried about being laid off. You have to stay with it because you need the job and the benefits, and so you do the best you can."

One day Marieluz noticed bruises on her daughter’s legs. She asked her if she had fallen, but she had not. Then red dots appeared, but Victoria had not been scratching herself although she complained that her legs were itchy. Then she started coughing.

The tumor ruptured, and that is why his temperature had spiked back on New Year’s Eve; his tumor had been ruptured for nine days inside his little body. The surgery team spent the first two hours cleaning just his spleen because the rupture and inflammation had caused havoc on his insides.

During this stay, Amelia had her first surgery and was diagnosed on Saturday prior to her discharge with a stage IV germ cell tumor (yolk-sac tumor). It had spread to her liver and possibly her lungs, but her chest x-ray was unclear. Amelia underwent four rounds of chemo, each round lasting approximately five days to seven days total.

“Receiving a child’s cancer diagnosis is something I would never wish on any parent, but having no option but to deal with it, having organizations to support you makes a big difference. Even a small gift card means so much, covering a mortgage is unbelievably jaw-dropping.”