CBS council thanks superhero families dealing with the challenges of childhood cancer
cap: On hand at CBS council last week for a proclamation recognizing Childhood Cancer Awareness Month were, from left: Mayor Darrin Bent, Michael, Alexander and Danielle Little, Alan, Kate and Natalie Winnett, and Ward 1 councillor Shelley Moores, who read the proclamation into the record. Craig Westcott photo
Members of CBS council were given a strong reminder last week of the need to raise awareness about the challenges facing families that have children with cancer.
Two families with firsthand experience of those challenges visited the chamber to observe as council issued a proclamation recognizing Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
About 10,000 children in Canada have cancer with about 1,600 diagnosed every year, including some 25 or so in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the leading cause of death by disease in adolescence. However, 78 per cent of children who get diagnosed with cancer survive five years or longer. That’s a nearly 46 per cent improvement since the early 1960s.
Addressing council on behalf of Candlelighters Newfoundland and Labrador was its vice president, Alan Winnett, whose daughter Natalie will take her last chemo pill for leukemia treatment later this month after dealing with the disease for two and a half years.
“She’s an incredible warrior,” Winnett said. “We’re an organization where people who have gone through similar experiences or are going through similar experiences can be part of a community of people who have walked in their shoes and know what they’re going through. It’s a tremendous asset, and tremendous thing for families doing this.”
The Candlelighters run the province’s only childhood camp, Camp Delight, for children with cancer, and their siblings. The one-week residential camp, held at Camp McCarthy in Carbonear, is free of charge to the children and their families.
“It’s a chance for children to have fun and be kids but to do it with an enhanced level of care, with a tremendous volunteer team who help them out, and with children who have gone through a similar experience,” Winnett said.
Danielle Little, who lost her son Kaden, aged six, to cancer in 2019, attested to the help provided by the organization.
“Candlelighters was a great support to us as a family and to Kaden when he was going through treatment, to Alexander when he was seeing his brother through treatment, and also with support after,” she said. “Like Alan said, it’s supporting the child going through cancer, supporting the families and the siblings. So, it is very, very important. We’re very happy that the Town of Conception Bay South is remembering those kids and just creating more awareness. There definitely needs to be more awareness for childhood cancer. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hit home until you get that diagnosis, but it could happen to anybody’s kids, and we all know that support is needed, for sure.”
Mayor Darrin Bent thanked the families for coming to the chamber to share their message. “We all very closely followed Kaden’s story,” said the mayor. “Kaden as we all know was a superhero. And you folks involved in Candlelighters, I can tell you, you are superheroes as well.”
Members of CBS council were given a strong reminder last week of the need to raise awareness about the challenges facing families that have children with cancer.
Two families with firsthand experience of those challenges visited the chamber to observe as council issued a proclamation recognizing Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
About 10,000 children in Canada have cancer with about 1,600 diagnosed every year, including some 25 or so in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the leading cause of death by disease in adolescence. However, 78 per cent of children who get diagnosed with cancer survive five years or longer. That’s a nearly 46 per cent improvement since the early 1960s.
Addressing council on behalf of Candlelighters Newfoundland and Labrador was its vice president, Alan Winnett, whose daughter Natalie will take her last chemo pill for leukemia treatment later this month after dealing with the disease for two and a half years.
“She’s an incredible warrior,” Winnett said. “We’re an organization where people who have gone through similar experiences or are going through similar experiences can be part of a community of people who have walked in their shoes and know what they’re going through. It’s a tremendous asset, and tremendous thing for families doing this.”
The Candlelighters run the province’s only childhood camp, Camp Delight, for children with cancer, and their siblings. The one-week residential camp, held at Camp McCarthy in Carbonear, is free of charge to the children and their families.
“It’s a chance for children to have fun and be kids but to do it with an enhanced level of care, with a tremendous volunteer team who help them out, and with children who have gone through a similar experience,” Winnett said.
Danielle Little, who lost her son Kaden, aged six, to cancer in 2019, attested to the help provided by the organization.
“Candlelighters was a great support to us as a family and to Kaden when he was going through treatment, to Alexander when he was seeing his brother through treatment, and also with support after,” she said. “Like Alan said, it’s supporting the child going through cancer, supporting the families and the siblings. So, it is very, very important. We’re very happy that the Town of Conception Bay South is remembering those kids and just creating more awareness. There definitely needs to be more awareness for childhood cancer. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hit home until you get that diagnosis, but it could happen to anybody’s kids, and we all know that support is needed, for sure.”
Mayor Darrin Bent thanked the families for coming to the chamber to share their message. “We all very closely followed Kaden’s story,” said the mayor. “Kaden as we all know was a superhero. And you folks involved in Candlelighters, I can tell you, you are superheroes as well.”