Service List

  Family Meals is a joint effort with Dream Dinners - Sawgrass.  We will deliver fresh pre-packaged meals and is especially effective for single parent families taking care of a child with cancer or a caregiver spouse taking care of his/her spouse with cancer.

  Holiday Brigade is a toy drive for children, both in the hospital and at home.  We will also provide holiday diners to families who need them.

  Cozy Campers is a program where the foundation will fund a child or family to go to camp.  We are currently working with Camp Boggy Creek in Florida.

 Basic Needs is just that.  We know how hard it is to take care of the day to day bills when you are taking care of a family member with cancer.  We will ease the burden by paying the household bills for families struggling to pay their bills, while caring for a member with cancer. 

Download the  Application for Assistance.pdf here.

 MEET SOME OF OUR RECIPIENTS

Navada is 23 years old and engaged to be married next year.  She and her family are from Georgetown, Guyana.  She is suffering from Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML).  When she came to Miami in June 2007, her white blood cell count was 122,000* She has undergone several rounds of chemotherapy and is in need of a bone marrow transplant.  Her doctors here have recommended her to MD Anderson, in Houston.  Navada’s family does not have health insurance and have already incurred medical bills of over $300,000.  All of the proceeds from the event at Southport Raw Bar will be directed for Navada’s cause.

Updated 10/20/07  Thanks to our generous supporters, we raised over $7,000 for Navada's medical expenses.  Navada is now in Houston, undergoing chemo and waiting for her bone marrow transplant.  Her family members are a close match.

Updated 12/30/07  Navada is on oxygen and is still receiving chemotherapy.  They are trying an oral type of chemo as well as introvenously.  The bone marrow transplant is on hold until she gets stronger.

Updated 1/31/08  A Letter from Navada's Uncle Richard

To One and All,
 
It is with sadness I write this email.
 
My niece Navada, who was 21 days shy of her 24th birthday, passed away at MD Anderson early this morning. She lost her fight with AML, but is now at PEACE IN THE ARMS OF GOD.
 
The family has made tentative plans for a Mass followed by cremation on Monday Feb,4 in Houston , Texas .  Her ashes will be taken back to Guyana for her final resting place next to my Dad.
 
Thank you all for your prays and support. Please continue to pray for Mark, Denise, Arianna, Mark Jnr and Anand. They will need your spiritual support to help them through this loss.  VADA may be physically gone, but WILL  NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

 Please pray for Navada's family during their time of loss. 

Tonia has been an RN for 22 years.  Nothing could prepare her for the news of her own 9 year old daughter, Maggie’s, diagnosis with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL).  Maggie was suffering from a fever and weakness, when she was admitted to the ER her white blood cell count was 440,000*.  She was immediately air lifted to Miami Children’s Hospital and is currently being treated with chemotherapy.  Maggie has since developed high blood sugar as a result of the steroids that she is taking.  Maggie and her two brothers live with their mother, Tonia, in Boynton Beach.   Her treatments will be several months, and Tonia will have to take time off from work to spend with Maggie at the hospital.  Through Tonia’s job, Maggie has health insurance and the medical bills will be covered, but this family is in need of assistance with household bills.

Updated 10/31/07  Maggie needs to have a bone marrow transplant.  Her 16 year old brother is a perfect match.  She cannot have the transplant until the cancer is erradicated from her body.  Her bone marrow transplant is scheduled for January 2008.

Updated 1/22/08  Maggie had her first round of full body radiation today.  She is scheduled for another found of radition tomorrow.  Her bone marrow transplant is scheduled for January 31st. 

*a normal white blood cell count is between 5,000—10,000

If you would like to make a donation for either of these recipients, please contact us and we will direct your donation to their behalf. 

 DID YOU KNOW ?

The majority of personal bankruptcies in the United States come from medical expenses.

Researchers estimate cancer will claim more than 500,000 American lives this year, and some 1.45 million new cases will be diagnosed.

Newsweek, April 9, 2007