What it means to fight Rhabdomyosarcoma
Rhabdomyosarcoma fighter Avery has been battling her disease since the winter. With the expertise of her doctors, and the boundless love of her family, she has been given the strength to take on this fight. Despite this, there was one small, but powerful obstacle standing in her way – the cost of transportation.
$15 a day to park at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital might not seem like much at first, but when the success of your treatment depends on your ability to get to the hospital almost every day, these costs can add up and become a huge burden. Avery’s mom, Francine, shared a little bit about what it was like to struggle with this constant drain on their family resources:
“Avery is 3 she will be 4 soon 11-6. My favorite thing about Avery is her determination. Nothing is impossible with her. After 2 months of misdiagnosed constipation and UTI we found out Christmas Eve 2019 Avery had Rhabdomyosarcoma. This year, her dad had to stop working to get Avery to all her doctor’s appointments, as she was going daily.
“With no income except SSI of about 800 dollars a month we were not able to get Avery to treatment recently. We were given an option to use CTA to get Avery to her daily appointments. This wasn’t ideal due to the risk of infection and safety on CTA. We were told no foundations could help us, as we lived too close to the hospital – only 8 miles away, yet we couldn’t get her there. But we still couldn’t pay for daily parking at the hospital. We felt like failures unable to get her there warm and safe.
“Covid changed the ability for our whole family to come to treatment. It caused our family to be separated a lot. Dad is a mover and it cost him many months of income loss.
“I’d heard amazing, kind things about the Compass to Care. Many families have been helped and when I posted on a Lurie patient cancer group on Facebook for suggestions of foundations to help us with parking cost, Compass to Care was highly favored and recommended.
“Compass to Care gave us the ability to get to the doctor every single time. We still pay for gas but with gas and parking we couldn’t get her there. Thank you so much for supporting us. We wouldn’t have had any other way to get to treatment if you hadn’t helped us. We truly couldn’t have gotten Avery to all her appointments without the assistance of Compass to Care. Thank you for making a way.”
Thank you, Francine, for sharing your story with the Compass to Care community! To help more kids like Avery, donate today!