All-Star Winnie

All-Star Winnie’s mom, Heather, was making sloppy joes when she got a call from the doctor to bring her 6-year-old to the hospital right away. She left the half-cooked hamburger sitting on the stove, and it was days before anyone had time to clear it away.

Earlier that day, the school had called to say that Winnie was nauseous and had a headache. Heather also noticed bruises. It just so happened that Winnie’s big sister had a well check visit that day, so the doctor examined Winnie too. They ran bloodwork for Winnie to see what was going on.

It was later that night, when Heather was at the stove, that the doctor had confirmed something the family never expected – she had leukemia, blood cancer.

It was hard to process what was happening. Heather didn’t believe it at first, asking if it could be appendicitis or if it was possible they had mixed up the test results.

The next day, Winnie had a port inserted into her chest to administer the chemotherapy, and she started two and a half years of treatment.

Winnie and Heather spent the first few weeks in the hospital. In one moment, their lives became unrecognizable.

At first Heather thought she would have short-term disability, but learned that it only covers the individual, not family members. She took Family Medical Leave for 30 days, which secured her job, but without pay.

After that she worked in a hybrid role so she could be with Winnie during the day and go into work in the evenings and on weekends, which was exhausting. She went through her Paid Time Off (PTO) at a rapid rate until she had none left. Winnie’s dad works in construction, so when he was with her, he did not get paid.

The focus shifted from worrying solely about Winnie and her care, to how they would manage financially.

“Things started to stack up, like your normal bills were so much more expensive because you were spending any extra money you had on parking and just getting her there. And then food was one of the bigger ones. Even if I look at my bills from two years ago, it's crazy the amount that everything went up, while the time we were working went down,” explained Heather.

Their social worker told Heather about the Pinky Swear Foundation Orange Envelope Program, a gift card package for newly diagnosed families.

“It was amazing,” she said. “Every bit helps, but getting a larger chunk is huge. We just left it in the car to spend on gas.”

More recently, Heather read Pinky Swear All-Star stories online and realized that they were maybe eligible for a mortgage payment through the Pinky Swear All-Star Fund.

“It's an amount that you don't think that anybody would give,” said Heather. “We have a modest mortgage, but even so, it’s much bigger than gas or groceries. I was relieved because now we can pay off a huge chunk of things, what we owe the pharmacy or a whole credit card, so we don’t have that haunting us. It was instant relief because it’s hard to make extra money when all your time goes to taking care of your child.”

Families like Winnie’s should be able to focus on her.

“Your life is already ruined from this process. And you're trying to rebuild from that, but you don't want to have to rebuild yourself from the financial ruin of it too. It’s the last thing you want to worry about when you are worrying about keeping your kid alive,” Heather said.

Heather described Winnie as very bubbly, adventurous, and outspoken; the one to speak up if an outfit doesn’t look good on you. Wherever she goes, she runs into people she knows. She finds joy in dancing, swimming, fishing, hiking, and being with her friends.

Winnie herself was vocal about how unfair childhood cancer is. She wished there were more toys that show kids with no hair or one with a port. When she got a Barbie with no hair, she was excited because she felt there was some representation of what she was going through. She also received a “chemo duck” that she can poke with needles to ease her stress over that process.

She also turned to videos for inspiration and to further her love of cooking during her cancer treatments by following Pakistani chef, Golden Gully, on YouTube. Winnie will be back in the kitchen cooking up her gochujang cucumber salad in no time.

In the meantime, Heather expressed her desire to show how appreciative they were to help others.

“I don’t think people realize it can happen to you until it does,” she explained.” It’s a club that nobody wants to be in, but once you are, it’s a good club with great people.”