My seven year old daughter Jessica was diagnosed with leukemia in April 2007 and our world was turned upside down. I applaud you for doing your part to make a difference in the lives of sick children, and I’d like to share a part of our story with you.

During the difficult time when Jessica was undergoing treatment and we were inmates at Christchurch hospital’s child cancer ward the following analogy would cross my mind when my spirits started to flag and the terror of the situation threatened to overwhelm me.

My husband and I are outside shoveling dirt.. It is coming thick and fast and no matter how hard we try the pile isn’t getting any smaller. We are exhausted and scared but know that taking a rest simply isn’t an option when suddenly the shovel I am using breaks. That is when I look over my shoulder and find a huge crowd of people gathered behind us watching our progress. This crowd is made up of our family and friends, acquaintances, people we barely know, and some we have never even met, and every single one of them is holding a shovel in their hand ready to replace the one I have just broken.

What I want to convey to you is that since Jessica became an ambassador for Cure Kids the crowd has got a whole lot bigger!!

Jessica may well not be alive today without the Cure Kids organization’s contribution towards leukemia research. There are simply no words to express our gratitude for the work you do funding the research that saves the lives of children like Jessica who have had to learn far too early in life how to fight to survive.
It is comforting to know, as a parent who has had to acknowledge the possibility of losing a child, and move past that fear to embrace life in this new context, that these people exist.

I will leave you with a story close to my heart.

After spending three and a half months in isolation and having just completed her fourth block of chemo, Jessica was temporarily blinded and hit with an infection. She spent two days not moving in bed and it was with huge relief I saw her begin to stir on the third day and slowly return to the land of the living. When she opened her eyes I asked her how she was feeling. She looked at me, summoned a weak smile, and said, “Perfect”.
With that one word my six-year-old daughter put every ‘bad day’ I have ever had in perspective.

I hope you will see your way to support this incredible charity that has made such a difference in our lives.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Clark

Mother of Jessica, who lives with Leukaemia