Giving really is better than receiving, and CURE Childhood Cancer’s Holiday Angel donors know this all too well. Each year, CURE’s Savannah office works with social workers from The Dwaine and Cynthia Willett Children’s Hospital in Savannah and Nemours Children’s Specialty Care in Jacksonville to create a list of families who have experienced financial hardship because of the cancer diagnosis of a child. 

Today CURE announces that between these two hospitals, CURE provided Holiday Angel gifts for 37 families in South Georgia and the Lowcountry this year. These families have experienced heartbreak and emotional distress in the past 12 months. 

One is a single mother of two whose 2-year-old daughter was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma in September of 2020. This little girl’s treatment has been grueling and required many nights in the hospital and frequent travel from Savannah to Atlanta forcing mom to work only when she was able. The patient has undergone several rounds of chemotherapy and MIBG radiation in preparation for a stem cell transplant. Last week scans revealed that even through this harsh treatment, the disease has progressed. The transplant will be postponed, and treatment will intensify once again. 

Another family’s 13-year-old daughter was just diagnosed with lymphoma in early November. The last month has been overwhelming and filled with long clinic appointments, hospital stays, and medication regimens, making it difficult to think about the holidays.

Mandy Garola, CURE’s Vice President of South Georgia knows this scenario all too well. “In 2008, my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia on November 13^th. The cancer diagnosis of a child is never easy, but coming prior to the holidays, it can be especially difficult. We were so focused on just getting through each day caring for our daughter, that Christmas snuck up on us,” Garola said. “Three of my friends came to me asking what they could do for my family. Like many families facing this situation, I was reluctant to accept their help, but they pushed until I gave them a couple of gift ideas for each of my two children. I cannot tell you what a blessing that act was to my family. Even now, 13 years later, it means so much to me that those ladies took the time to be sure my children were taken care of for Christmas, when I hadn’t even given it a thought,” Garola added.

This act of providing for another family during the holidays is essentially what CURE’s Holiday Angel Program is all about. Once the social workers have shared the names for the patients they feel would benefit, CURE staff contacts the patient’s parent or caregiver and gets a list of three wishes for each of the children in the family along with any household needs. CURE staff then matches each family with a donor sharing only the wish list and basic information. The donors shop for the family often involving their children in the process as well. 

Holiday Angel Donor, Jaime Miller, shared, “I feel honored and blessed to be able to bring joy to a family going through such a scary and difficult time. My mother, my two girls and I do this together. I always tell my girls I would want someone to do this for us if we were in this situation. The girls love choosing gifts for the kids and we pray for the family during the holidays.”

After gifts are collected from donors, they’re sorted, labeled, and stored in giant Santa bags to prevent little eyes from peeking. Students from CURE Crew, CURE’s Teen Council, then deliver the gifts to families in the area. The recipients have no idea who the donor is who provided the gifts and can use them however they see fit for their children during the holidays. It truly is a win for everyone involved. That’s evident when you hear the comments from the families.

On receipt of the gifts one mother shared, “I am blown away by the gifts for our family. It is above and beyond. Thank you just feels inadequate. The act brought me to tears. We all have our support networks that help us deal with the day to day, but these gifts are different because they come from people who don’t know us or our story. Having a total stranger care about us melts my heart. I truly believe that kindness and caring hearts can change the world.” 

Another mother said, “Thank you so much to whoever was responsible for all of this! When our daughter is done with all of this, we are going to want to be a part of CURE’s Holiday Angel Program. I would love to make someone else feel the way I am feeling right now.”

To learn more about CURE, please visit www.curechildhoodcancer.org