Bringing hope to families in need

Holiday Hope, a GC program, aims to make the holiday cheerful for families with members ill from cancer

Three-year-old Chase Daniel will spend this Christmas in his hospital bed at Egleston Children’s Hospital. His parents, Cassie and Jason, and his little brother, Blake, will also spend the holiday by his bedside in the Intensive Care Unit. Chase has been at Egleston for almost two months now, and his condition is not improving. Chase was diagnosed with Leukemia the same day his family closed the deal on a new house. Little did they know that the day would bring more new beginnings than just a new mortgage. Cassie took her seemingly healthy child to the doctor for a routine checkup and came out the mother of a cancer patient.

“Chase is not doing very well,” said Brandy Schneider, Chase’s aunt. “He’s been in the ICU for about 58 days, and it’s a hard time.”

Holiday Hope is a GC program that wants to ensure that families like Chase’s, who have been affected by childhood cancer, have the best Christmas they possibly can. The Wellness and Recreation Center, The GIVE Center, the College of Health & Sciences and the Department of Athletics are all sponsoring Holiday Hope.

Another family struggling with cancer is the Powelski family. Kirsten Powelski is the daughter of Georgia College shuttle driver Edward Powelski, or “Bear,” as he is better known. Kirsten has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which causes fever, chills, loss of appetite and  many more symptoms. She and her family have been fighting this since July, and if all goes as planned she only has one more month of chemotherapy.

“Medicine can only go so far,” Mr. Powelski said. “We are very strong in our faith, and you can’t do anything without faith. I’ve learned so much from Kirsten’s strength.”

Holiday Hope will be collecting donations for these two families until Dec. 6. Donors are encouraged to give monetary donations to both families. Since Chase is in such critical condition, they will also be accepting unopened, unwrapped gifts for each family member and canned goods for his family. All monetary donations must be dropped off at the Wellness and Recreation Center, but other gifts will be accepted at The GIVE Center and Parks Memorial Building.

Liz Hathaway, graduate assistant at the Wellness and Recreation Center, got the idea for Holiday Hope while running one day. She said God put it in her heart, and he is just using her to do his will. She immediately turned her thoughts into actions by creating the program and finding families to “adopt” for the holidays. Since both of Hathaway’s parents have battled cancer and she plans to work with cancer patients one day, she can easily relate to these families and their struggles.

“It’s not about us,” Hathaway said. “If we never meet the families, it’s okay. It’s about the spirit of giving and the bigger picture. We just want to make their holiday a little brighter.”

The Holiday Hope sponsors are not trying to meet a donation goal. They have no idea how many donations to expect, but they want to help these families as much as they can in their time of need.  Each and every donation is appreciated, so everyone is encouraged to join the cause.

“Cancer is going to affect you at some point in your life,” Hathaway said. “Times can get very tough, and the fact that we care enough to do this will mean more to these families than the gifts we give them.”

The families who benefit from Holiday Hope are thankful for the aid they receive during the holiday season.

“The whole college atmosphere has been so supportive,” Powelski said. “It’s unbelievable. I can’t say thank you enough.”

Posted by MorganWilson on Dec 1 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.