Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas supports families through the journey of care :: WRAL.com
Families of children with cancer in North Carolina now have a source of financial and personal support.
Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas serves as a “safety net” even as affected families must go out of state to receive life-saving treatment for their child.
On April 12, the ‘High Hopes’ charity golf tournament at the Carolina Trace Country Club in Sanford stepped up the fight against childhood cancer. Participants raised $10,000 for the Carolinas’ Children’s Cancer Partners.
“Children’s Cancer Partners is the epitome of supporting families going through exactly what we are experiencing,” said Griffin Coxe.
Coxe, along with wife Brittany, served as the tournament’s coordinator.
In September 2021, Coxe’s 5-year-old daughter, Perry, complained of pain in her side. Finally, a friend suggested that she be taken to a hospital emergency room for a check-up.
“Eight hours later, we had the diagnosis we never expected to hear,” said Brittany Coxe.
The diagnosis was cancer. They went to Duke Children’s Hospital with concerns about the costs ahead. Duke referred them to Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas.
“The coolest thing about Children’s Cancer Partners is that they make sure you can focus on that and your family and they take everything else off your plate when it comes down to it,” Griffin Coxe said.
It includes assistance with transportation, food, and shelter around treatment care.
Laura Allen, CCP’s executive director, says that promise holds true even when the family has to leave the state to seek specialized care.
“For example, they should go to the children’s hospital in Philadelphia or to Atlanta to get that treatment,” she said.
MacKenzie O’Quinn’s 18-month-old daughter Molly Margaret’s neuroblastoma cancer was described by doctors as a very rare form, a case of one in 5 million cases. It required a trip to Boston. The support of the CCP followed the family there.
“We were just floored that there was an organization that took care of families who would walk through the unimaginable like that and walk alongside us,” O’Quinn said.
Within 36 hours of treatment, 90% of her daughter’s symptoms had disappeared.
“She’s basically cancer-free, which is so exciting,” O’Quinn said.
Fundraising types, even through charity golf tournaments such as those organized by the Coxe family, can make a big difference to affected families.
“People are going to get that call that we got in September and we want to make sure they have the support and we know Children’s Cancer Partners wants to do that,” said Griffin Coxe.
In Wake County alone, Carolina Cancer Partners of the Carolinas are helping 145 families. By the end of this year, they expect to have 2,000 families in the Carolinas enrolled in their program.
Comments are closed.