B+ Heroes
B+ Family Assistance Program
Last Friday, we did our weekly review of Family Assistance applications and we issued 70 checks. If you haven’t been there, you just cannot imagine the tremendous value of this assistance…practically-speaking, lessening the financial burden and giving the child a better chance at survival and emotionally, letting the family know that they are not alone. YOU make this possible!
OLIVER
It broke my heart to learn about a little 4-year-old B+ Hero, Oliver, who passed away from Neuroblastoma. Oliver’s family temporarily relocated several hundred miles away from home to be closer to the best care for the little guy. After Oliver passed away, the family informed the landlord of Oliver’s death and their desire to break the apartment lease so that they can return to their permanent home. Shockingly, the landlord is NOT letting them out of the remaining two months on their lease. Thanks to you, we’re helping Oliver’s family partially cover this cost. So sad on so many levels.
THEO
A note from Theo’s Mom:
This is a thank you to BE POSITIVE. I apologize for the delay but our son, Theo, passed just 5 days before we received this grant.
Theo was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma just after he turned 3. He underwent just about everything he could’ve – chemo, radiation, surgery, bone marrow transplants, and immunotherapy. He was on 3 different trials. He was incredible the whole time – he made it look easy and I guarantee it wasn’t.
For almost 3 years we fought this cancer consistently at 4 different hospitals. We traveled a lot, had a baby 4 months in (as I was pregnant when Theo was diagnosed), were separated from each other and other family due to Covid and went for long periods without pay due to being laid off and furloughed. I say this to let you know how much the grant helps. There is nothing about the pediatric cancer journey that is easy so everything helps. Getting a little financial relief does ease some stress. Thank you for doing what you do – helping our family and others like us.
PAISLEY
To Joe and The B+ Foundation and it’s donors,
Thank you so much for the work you do!
After a particularly isolating year with the Covid-19 pandemic, we found ourselves facing the diagnosis of a brain tumor in our five-year-old daughter, Paisley. It is so heartbreaking to get that news. We learned Paisley had a brain tumor and needed to have surgery quickly to relieve a severe case of hydrocephalus. As my husband and I spent the next three weeks switching off at the hospital seeing each other for about five minutes at a time. It was so comforting to have friends, that we had not been able to see in nearly a year, come to our doorstep with food and words of encouragement.
As we neared the time for our daughter to come home from the hospital we discovered a leak in the water pipes of our home. It was located under the slab in our daughters room. After they dug a hole in her floor they discovered that the problem was even bigger and that all the pipes in the home were failing through a process called electrolysis that disintegrates the water lines. We had to replace all the pipes in our home. The homeowners insurance didn’t cover it, but we were able to refinance the house and make arrangements to pay for this.
The hydrocephalus had been resolved but the tumor and part of a fluid-filled cyst remained. We started searching around for another surgeon that could resect the rest of the tumor. We found one, out of network. As we prepared to work with our health insurance on this next step our water heater went out. As we struggled to look at making yet another payment we were so relieved B+ accepted our application for assistance. It is like a friend coming to your door, bringing you a hot meal and saying, we’ve got you, taking one thing off of your overfilled plate, giving you one less thing to worry about doing on your own.
Thank you for making such a difference!
Thank you, B+ Nation, for taking “one thing off of (their) overfilled plate(s)!”
Ali & Andrew’s Dad