Girl fighting cancer hoping for memory garden
Money being raised in GoFundMe page
A 10-year-old girl with brain cancer is hoping her family can raise enough money to build a memory garden — a place where they can visit to remember her once she’s passed — and a GoFundMe page has been created to make it happen.
Ciara Hiscock has been battling brain cancer since 2016, but with no treatments working to stop its progression, the youngster began envisioning a memorial garden where her family could visit and be with her.
But the family hasn’t been able to afford a piece of property outside their hometown, Sherwood Park, for the garden.
“We were upfront with her ... We told her, which was a terrible day, but that’s when her and mom started talking about having a memory garden. A place where she knows she can come visit us and mom has the place to reflect ... We’ve been searching all summer for a piece of property,” said Darren Hiscock, Ciara’s father.
Ciara discovered she had a brain tumour when she was eight years old. Her family had found her on the floor of their bathroom having a seizure.
But after doctors at the Stollery Children’s Hospital found two tumours a few weeks later, they diagnosed Ciara with an aggressive brain cancer called giant cell glioblastoma.
“We got results Wednesday that it is progressing, and this type of tumour, it’s not growing larger, so it’s not taking up space in her brain and giving her headaches and stuff like that; it more tentacles out and hits the wiring of her brain,” said Darren.
The tumours are now affecting her brain, causing blurred or loss of vision, loss of memory, loss of hearing and mumbling.
According to Darren, the doctors aren’t giving the family an exact timeline on how long they expect she has to live, because she’s already outlived their first estimate by a month.
“They gave her three to 18 months and she just hit the 19-month mark,” said Darren.
“They said they don’t really want to say, as she’s proved them wrong already, but they said we’re talking, they’d rather say weeks than months.”
One of her dad’s co-workers, Helen Richards, created the GoFundMe page Ciara Memorial Garden, because she was hoping to raise enough money for the family to purchase land.
As of Friday, the page had raised more than $4,000, but they have a goal of raising between $15,000 and $25,000.
“At this point, we don’t really have enough time to be organizing too many fundraisers, so I’m asking for money on the page. We want her to be able to see it built,” said Richards.
Ciara’s vision for the garden is to be a quiet and relaxing place with a bench surrounded by calla lilies, her favourite flower, trees and wind chimes.
Through the GoFundMe campaign and other small fundraisers, the Hiscocks are hopeful they’ll get the garden built in time for Ciara to visit.
“We want it to be a place where she’s been, so she knows it’s the place to come see mommy and daddy,” said Darren.
They gave her three to 18 months and she just hit the 19-month mark.