BE BRAVE

On Valentines Day 2023, our PCP sent my son Travis, a single parent of Landon (his 11 year old son) and myself to Children's Hospital in Dallas where he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Over the next 10.5 months, Landon and I stayed in the hospital with his Dad and brother visiting every weekend.

Shortly after we arrived at Children's, we connected with The Trevor Wade Daniel Foundation. What a blessing it was for Landon to receive gifts - Lego sets and other items that could help him stay busy and do things he loved to do! He displayed everything he made or built in his hospital room. On Mother's Day, the foundation even arranged a surprise lunch and gift bag for me!

After Landon received a stem cell transplant and started his road to recovery, TWDF arranged an all-expense paid beach trip to Galveston for our family. It was a much needed and restful time together. Our family has truly been blessed beyond measure by TWDF during this journey and we are forever grateful. Landon is 14 now and cancer free!

I received support from the TWD Foundation in the form of care packages, holiday gifts, a listening ear, gentle and helpful advice, and someone to lean on who has become a meaningful partner in our corner. I’ve felt completely alone as a caretaker and the physical presence the TWD Foundation offered for emotional support in both the ER and our inpatient room was more than anyone else had done, or has done, for us this entire battle. Being able to reach out whenever the weight has been too much, to someone who has carried even more, isn’t a relief I can put into words.

The support of having someone bring customized gifts to my son’s hospital room during a long stay made him feel not at home, but comfortable and happy within the space he was confined to.

Having an actual person in our lives and not only packages sent from afar has been the most meaningful part of connecting with TWD Foundation. The care packages that were tailored to what we were going through and that part of the fight brought comfort, sensibility for what we need in our room (& often forgot), plus something to look forward to when there’s so much to dread. Everything about knowing TWD Foundation has brought comfort and hope.

From just after diagnosis to the end of my daughter's treatment, the Trevor Wade Daniel Foundation showed our family support and love. They promptly sent a basket to our home filled with comfort items we didn't even know we would need. The TWD Foundation truly understands what it means to have a child with cancer. I thank God that He filled them with enough strength to use their most difficult trial to minister to other families with expertise, sensitivity and the compassion of Christ. They understand that the whole family experiences cancer together and supported us with that in mind. 

The gift cards for meals were especially appreciated when only very specific foods could be tolerated, we were traveling for treatment, or couldn't face another hospital meal. 

Thank you for being there for us in our darkest hours.