Thanks for the support during the first week of the Chase! While we didn’t get the win at Chicagoland, we had a solid finish. I’m proud of my 22 team. Now on to New Hampshire!
This Week’s Cause: Pediatric Cancer
This week, Chasing Second Chances will continue supporting Pediatric Cancer related organizations.
In the last blog, I mentioned some facts about pediatric cancer. As I head to my home track, it really got me thinking about family. For this post, I want to focus on the effects having a child with cancer can have on the whole family.
Someone shared this quote with me that was found on www.cancer.gov and it made an interesting point.
“…treatment of childhood cancer inevitably occurs in the context of a family. Frequently, the impact of an adult’s cancer treatment focuses on one or two key adults in the cancer patient’s life. In childhood cancer, the effects are often felt by more individuals, including one or both parents, one or more siblings who are themselves children or adolescents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, friends, and other individuals who may be directly involved in the care or life experience of the child.”
And everyone reacts to the situation in different ways. Families can be brought closer or can be broken apart.
Financially, it can be really tough on these families too. Many kids have to travel for treatments. A parent may have to quit their job in order to be with the child. Out-of-pocket expenses add up and people have to borrow money just to pay bills.
It’s a lot to think about when you look at everything that pediatric cancer can do, not just to a child, but an entire family.
This Week’s Joey Logano Foundation Chasing Second Chances Partner
This week’s charity partner is one that is really close to me because it’s a group that I’ve been working with for many years, even before I was a Sprint Cup series driver. This week, we are supporting David’s House- www.davids-house.org. David’s House is an organization that helps families while they are receiving treatment.
David Cyr had acute lymphatic leukemia. The Cyr family lived 20 minutes from where David was receiving treatment, but so many other families lived further away. David’s father Dick would speak with parents who slept in cars, in chairs, anywhere they needed to so they didn’t have to leave their child alone. Financially, these families could not spend the extra money on local hotels. Already in a stressful situation, these families went without comfort so they could be close to their children.
David passed when he was five. That is when Dick and his family and friends decided they were going to build a house for these families so they could stay close to their children. David’s House provides a home-away-from-home and support for families with children receiving treatment through the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. To date they have helped over 13,117 families from around the world!
I am proud to support this non-profit and the work they are doing to help families.
