How Cure Kids helps Kiwi families
Lucca was just sixteen months old when she developed a stomach tumour weighing a kilogram – a tenth of her entire body weight. Treated for a rare and aggressive cancer, she’s now a happy and healthy seven year-old thanks to child medical research made possible by Cure Kids. Here, Lucca's mum Jordanna talks to us about why supporting Cure Kids is crucial to creating healthier futures for Kiwi kids.
Most people gain the privilege of becoming parents in their lives. It is an experience that profoundly shifts our experience of the world. Our existence becomes secondary to the little life we are now responsible for. All we hope for is that our little person will have a life filled with love and joy. When you are a parent of a child who is diagnosed with a chronic and hard to treat illness your whole world comes down. You have to watch your child in pain, you have to sit through surgeries you aren’t sure they will come out alive from. You have to negotiate a whole different path for your child to what you had envisioned. Often there aren’t a lot of answers, there are no guarantees. You have to trust in the medical experts, you have to put your child’s life in their hands. You have to become good at waiting for results, for answers, for procedures. You have to make peace with fear as it is a daily companion. You put aside your own needs and dreams. You put every ounce of energy into normalising the experience your child is going through and creating as many moments of normalcy and fun as possible.
You watch your child overcome incredible obstacles, you watch them face pain, face fear, and face disappointment when they miss out on normal activities. They learn patience, tolerance and empathy well beyond their years. They become little warriors. Wise souls. But they shouldn’t have to. They are kids. Life is so short and amazing and all you want is for them to be able to experience it as any normal kid does. Cure Kids looks out for these little warriors – they are fighting the fight for them. The fight to have them experience as normal childhood as possible. This is what we all want for our kids – a normal childhood – and it is what every kid deserves. Cure Kids understands this and is doing all it can to better the lives of these incredible little warriors.
If you’ve been touched by Lucca’s experience, help Cure Kids fund research to help make a big difference to the lives of children and families. Every Jams purchase helps as all profits are donated to Cure Kids. Alternatively, support Cure Kids with a donation here.