In partnership with Cuisine for Healing, Cancer Care Services will be hosting a family cooking night.Join us as we learn a new recipe to cook together. While we enjoy our meals, we will learn some tips and tools on how to have important conversations around the dinner table.
To RSVP, contact: Megan Clifton, Director of Client Engagement
Únase a nosotros y con el Chef Noah de Cuisine for For Healing para una demostración de cocina saludable. Chef Noah le guiará a través de una receta saludable, a la vez que aprende consejos de cocina en el proceso. Después de haber preparado nuestra comida, ¡comeremos juntos y disfrutaremos del compañerismo de los que nos rodean!
Para confirmar su asistencia, comuníquese con: Megan Clifton, Directora de Relaciones con los Clientes
All singles and couples impacted by cancer are invited! Come join us for food, fun, break-out sessions, and dancing. We hope to see you there! *Free childcare is provided.
¡Todos los solteros y parejas están invitados! Acompañenos a la comida, la diversión, las sesiones de trabajo y el baile. ¡Esperamos verte ahí! *Tenemos cuidado de niños gratis disponible.
I was having mammograms every six months, and I say, about a year and a half later they told me that it had changed, and I got a biopsy done. And that’s when I found out I had cancer.
Carvel (00:27)
What’s gonna happen to my mother? My mom is my whole world. It was a hard conversation. And right then and there is when I decided I needed to take on more responsibility.
Crystal (01:06)
Going through cancer treatment. It, it negatively affected Carvel the most because he’s the oldest, and he understood what was going on.
You know, when you’re going through cancer, you’re not going through it alone. The people who are there and care for you, they’re going through it with you.
He had to learn how to do hair for his little sister. It looked crazy, but it was done. And he had to help take his autistic brother to therapy. He had to step in and shoot basically grow up.
Carvel (01:08)
It never felt like a job to me.
Crystal (01:12)
He’s just a – he’s an amazing human being
Carvel (01:35)
Going through this before Cancer Care and not knowing anyone who dealt with cancer care or treatments. So I was depressed. My mom was depressed. We were – we felt very alone and isolated from everyone else. We felt like we weren’t normal. We felt like we were dealing with something that only we were dealing with.
Crystal (02:00)
I didn’t know basically what the Cancer Care services were. It’s nice because with everything going on, the appointments, the medications, the chemo, radiation, just everything you’re going through during the time of treatment, you’re constantly at doctor’s appointments. Then when you go home, you have work to do at home, you know?
Carvel (02:15)
Yeah. It caused a lot of stress for me. And when I was stressed, it caused stress for my mother. So, I had to seek help. And that’s when she told me about, um, Cancer Care and I was like, let’s do it. Let’s take that step.
Crystal (02:32)
If you need any help with any type of prescriptions or if you are behind on a bill, hey, we have emergency funds to assist with that and so it is very helpful when you have someone there to help you navigate through everything.
Carvel (03:20)
Well, my experience as a Camper, it was actually like a bright moment. I would say. It was like a breath of relief because when I was able to share my moments with other people who also went through it at CampCARE, I was like, I’m not alone in this.
Cancer Care is a great big family. That night away, that was like a night where I didn’t have any stress. I didn’t have to think about work. I didn’t have to think about prescriptions, and I didn’t have to think about treatment. I was just purely having fun for one night. And Cancer Care can take that load off my back.
You don’t have to deal with this alone. You can come over with us, me and my mom, and we can go over to Cancer Care together, and we can get the help that you need.
Cancer Care is gonna be there every single step of the way, and we will too ’cause we’re part of Cancer Care now.
Join both Connect and Spiritual Care services for a Friendsgiving baking class! A chef will lead us through baking our favorite holiday pies. You will also take home the ingredients so you can make the pie during the holidays for your friends and family.
Acompáñenos a celebrar Friendsgiving con una clase de pastelería con los grupos de Connect y del Cuidado Espiritual. Un cocinero nos dirigirá en la clase de cocina para cocer nuestras tartas festivas favoritas. También se llevará a casa los ingredientes necesarios para cocinar su propia tarta durante los días festivos para compatir con sus seres queridos.
Fire Family First is a monthly gathering of firefighter families impacted by cancer on the first Tuesday of the month throughout 2024. The evening is facilitated by Cameron Brown, a retired Fort Worth firefighter, and Cancer Care staff who will provide caregiver support and therapeutic activities for children.
Join us for art therapy night! Come hungry and ready to get your creativity on! Our Clinical Director, Brianna Silva, will be leading us through an art therapy activity. Dinner will also be provided.
¡Acompáñanos en nuestra Noche de Conexión para explorar tu talento artístico! Un terapeuta de arte nos acompañará para dirigir una actividad de arteterapia para ti y tus seres queridos. La cena será proporcionada.
Before our son’s cancer diagnosis, we were just a regular young family. Two kids – our daughter was one and a half, almost two, something like that. I was a teacher, he was a lawyer, so we were just average people.
In a matter of half a day, everything about your life is different. Aiden’s diagnosis came the week that he turned five, so it was five days before his fifth birthday. We noticed some small bruises on him, and the thing that I really noticed, that I thought was strange, was this rash.
So we went to our local hospital, and by that evening, by dinnertime, we were flown to Cook Children’s and had a diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or ALL. It’s one of the most common childhood cancers, and then about a week later, we found out he got the “extra” version, which is called Philadelphia Positive ALL.
What we had been told about how easy leukemia was to treat was all out the window after that. So we went from living in San Angelo, and by the end of the day, it was a Monday, by the end of that day, we were separated. And that lasted for ten and a half months, we were separated the first time.
And since then, Aiden has just– we’ve learned that his disease is very aggressive and very hard to treat, and it’s been treatment to relapse, to treatment to relapse.
Chris(1:49)
I believe it was the hospital that gave us the booklet of “You have no idea what’s going on or what you’re doing, and life is crazy”, so here is some resources to help you, and Cancer Care’s services was one of those.
Erica(2:07)
I think, generally, when you reach out to any of these foundations that help with cancer, it’s generally financial assistance, so I think that was our initial expectation. But what we have learned about Cancer Care since we’ve relocated to this area is they actually provide a lot more services than just financial assistance.
Chris(2:27)
Like with our family, Ella’s been receiving therapy there, Aiden’s sister. And just recently, Cancer Care was able to hire a new therapist, which has been a way that Erica’s been able to go and get services there, too. So as Cancer Care grows, then they’re just able to do more and more.
Erica(2:36)
Our kids just got to go to camp this summer, and it was their first time to do anything like that. So they got to go fishing and swimming, and they absolutely loved that.
Chris(2:44)
But to have him away from us all day, you know, he takes a lot of work and a lot of medicines, and, you know, a lot of upkeep.
Erica(3:10)
Dropping him off for all-day camp was a milestone for sure.
I think it would definitely be detrimental to the community to lose access to Cancer Care Services because it is so comprehensive and well-rounded, and it’s access to the whole family, not just the patient, which is so important with a diagnosis like this because it’s just not the patient who’s sick; it’s the whole family.
Chris (3:18)
Hopefully, one day, this is all just a memory that’s in our past and behind us.
Transcribed by: Kirbi T.
From Caregiver to Cancer Patient…
Erica and Chris hoped this would be the extent of their family’s cancer journey. But unfortunately, it wasn’t. Erica was later diagnosed with breast cancer – throwing her family back into the chaos, and loneliness, of cancer.
“As a mom, we have other women we can ask about diaper cream, sleep training, and rashes. That amount of support evaporates overnight with a child’s cancer diagnosis… and even my own. There is no park bench full of other moms who understand the strain of caring for a child with cancer. Cancer Care provides that support.” – Erica, Cancer Patient & Caregiver
While a cancer diagnosis is typically isolating, Erica did not have to face the challenges of cancer alone. Cancer Care’s social work team became Erica’s steadfast “park bench” of support as she navigated cancer as a caregiver and patient.
All singles and couples impacted by cancer are invited! Come join us for food, fun, break-out sessions, and dancing. We hope to see you there! *Free childcare is provided.
¡Todos los solteros y parejas están invitados! Acompañenos a la comida, la diversión, las sesiones de trabajo y el baile. ¡Esperamos verte ahí! *Tenemos cuidado de niños gratis disponible.
So, on October the 12th, we went into the ER with Lucy, had a high fever for three days. She had been in– we had seen her pediatrician the day before and actually got a blood test. She was complaining about not being able to stand very long or walk very far. And within an hour of being at the Cook ER, they had the results from the blood test the day before.
Joey (03:03)
The attending physician comes in and tells us that the oncologist is coming to see us because our three-year-old daughter has cancer, has leukemia. And he wanted to let us know before the oncologist came, to give us a little heads up. That was very nice of him to do. When cancer came into our lives, everything shifted. I had just started a brand-new job, but Mariel’s role was to be caretaker, and it was very difficult, and she had to completely stop her business. That was very hard too, just saying the words that we couldn’t take new business because our daughter had cancer. It was scary.
So, while we’re in the hospital, a few days after diagnosis and treatment has already started, we get a packet. Probably about halfway through that packet was a service through Cancer Care for prescription medicine reimbursement program. And from there, it started our relationship with Cancer Care.
Mariel (04:21)
We were met with just so much warmth. We knew it was a great fit for us and for our family. We just immediately felt connected with everybody there at Cancer Care.
Joey (04:32)
And also, they were very interested in Leo, Lucy’s at the time five-year-old brother, to help him in the process as well. And that was very important to us because we were spending so much time with Lucy in the hospital that we were starting– we were very worried about our five-year-old and how he was processing the events. So, that was a big, big plus for us.
Mariel (04:58)
I don’t know that there’s anything out there that is as inclusive from both a standpoint of the range of offerings that they have. Those one-hour windows where the kids were at play therapy were definitely the only hour that I had away, literally, from Lucy. I would try to cram as much as I could, or I would chat with Rhea about life and just have an outlet and just a little bit of a boost. So, as much as those play therapy times were great for the kids, it was a good little breath of fresh air for me as well.
Joey (05:41)
So, hope to us is belief that tomorrow is gonna be better. And that’s easier said than done most days. We’ve had some really hard days, and finding hope was hard.
Life before Jessica’s diagnosis was very free for us in that we enjoyed traveling and planning where we’re going next. We had just come back from a trip from Ireland.
Jessica
I thought I hurt my back. My back pain continued to get worse. I went and saw a physical therapist. So, he did the scan, and it was showing a tumor was crushing my vertebrae. During those scans, I was trying to get up off of the scan bed to get repositioned, and I didn’t know at the time, but something snapped, and my vertebrae broke, and I couldn’t walk.
Mike
You know, as a husband, watching your wife go through this is very difficult. You know, you see her go from a full-time active nurse, rambunctious, and ready to go on trips to just very physically unable. And, you know, it’s hard.
Jessica
We lost a lot of our, at the time, close friends because they didn’t know what to say, they didn’t understand it. So, it was easier to kinda step back than be involved in the tough, hard discussions. But I remember someone, she was a nurse navigator, and she reached out to me, and she ended up letting me know about a young adult support group. And that’s where that I started finding out more programs and about Cancer Care Services and what they were doing for cancer patients and survivors.
The main experience I think of is when we went to the retreat in April of 2021. We just got so much enjoyment out of it and it kinda made you forget about a lot of the doctor’s appointments and things at that time. You just kinda go to experience new things and enjoy yourself.
Mike
Jessica was just finally starting to get to where, you know, we were going on walks again and stuff. We go to this retreat, and they split ya into different groups. And it’s okay, you know, we’re gonna go ahead and climb this 30-foot pole first. Let’s just get this day going. In my mind–well both of our minds, we were like this will be good to at least get, at minimum, a few steps in and kinda figure out like hey, see where my limits are, you know.
So, I go up first. I am waiting on the platform for her, and she starts. I’m watching, and I’m like, oh that’s cool she’s starting to go up, and then, then, she gets to the top of the pole. And I lost it. It’s just– from going from a person I’ve had to place in the shower to being able to climb this thing and go across and do all this. I mean, it was one the greatest moments of my life that I got to experience was watching her do it.
Jessica
Cancer Care Services represents exactly what their name says. I’ve met some very wonderful people. It’s not even just a working relationship, I mean, there’s a friendship that’s came out of it. They truly do care about their client.
Mike
That’s more of a blessing than I think some people could even ever realize. It’s just being there and caring. So, keep doing what you’re doing. Thank you.
