Almost 20 thousand dollars raised in 48 days

“Having a few moments of down time I sat down and recorded all of the total donations we have received to date. The incredible outpouring of emotional support and well wishes has truly been the one and only thing that has gotten us through this difficult time in our life. It has been 48 days since our world was changed forever. We have so many things to be appreciative for, the main thing is that we still have our daughter and she will get better over time. Thinking back to the day I decided enough was enough and I was going to get to the bottom of Lynnea’s leg pain; I did not having the faintest idea of what the day would bring, to find out that our daughter would be diagnosed with CANCER. It is not something that anyone plans or prepares for because it is only something that we hear about, we never think it will happen to us or our family. We left town in the middle of the night with the cloths on our back and were told that we could not go home because our daughter had a life threatening illness. There was a whirlwind of test, surgeries I had no idea what day it was when we were in hospital. You never know how much you take for granted until it is taken away, for me even a shower became heaven sent. I’m telling you this was not the kind of shower I was used to it was a quick rinse off in a tiny square shower with a cloth curtain. As hard as this has been it really lifted the veil I had over my eyes and I was able to see all the pain and beauty in the world. There is suffering and there is sadness but there are so many angels in disguise out there helping people get through. Nothing anyone has done for us has been overlooked, from a comment or a message on Facebook, text messages, phone calls, visits, prayers, cards, presents and money donations. I can see just how many people love and care for us and our whole families, especially our little Princess Lynnea and it is truly appreciated so very much. The grand total for donations received in just 48 short days has been 19797.35! This total includes: The Loonie Auction, The Penticton RCMP, Constellation Brands Employees, Kal Tire, Michelle Regner Photography, Sweet Tooth Photography, Murphy’s pub, SOSS School, SPC School, Inkameep Preschool and Daycare, Highway to Healing, The Order of the Eastern Star, The Lion and Lioness Club as well as private donations from families. This does not include family and company donations to the loonie auction and the silent auction and I would like to thank you. I cannot thank people enough for all the time you have all taken away from your own families to help ours. Everything is so expensive and Lynnea requires so many specific foods, products, cleaners, even certain medication are not covered; everything has changed so much and all of you have made sure we can get her what she needs when she needs it. Our life as we knew it is never going to be the same, once Lynnea has completed Chemotherapy and maintenance she will still require monthly trips to the BC Children’s Hospital until she is an adult, then she will move on to the care of an adult Oncologist. We have also allowed additional research on Lynneas blood and bone marrow samples, I hope that however small our contribution may be that it puts us that much closer to finding a CURE and that in the future no family will have to go through this. One day I plan on helping other families as I have met an incredible supportive and tight knit community of parents that are going through the same thing. I want to be able to give back to make a difference and touch people’s lives in the way that all of you have done for us, the father who organizes a toy drive is a model of inspiration and I hope to make that kind of an impact one day. Whether it be donating blood, registering for bone marrow/organ donation, raising money for childhood cancer research/awareness, a toy drive, new recliners for the parents to sleep on; the list is truly endless because there are so many ways to help and it will be in the name of our daughter.

Anyone is welcome to join her Facebook page as well.  Thank you.”

Alanea Holmstrom