Family touched by truck event
It’s hard to imagine a child with a bigger smile than the one René Soto Taylor wore as he sat behind the wheel of a massive fire truck.
The photo of the nine-year-old Oaklands Elementary School student, who is battling neuroblastoma, was taken last year when he was treated to a private tour of the Victoria International Airport’s fire department.
René and dozens of other children will get a chance to check out fire trucks, dump trucks, police cars and excavators at today’s Touch a Truck event, a fundraiser for neuroblastoma research organized by Team 4 Hope.
The fundraiser is crucial for René and other children with the same type of pediatric cancer, said his mother, Julia Taylor. The family has spent the past five years navigating the web of treatment options to try to prolong René’s life and minimize his pain.
“We’re excited because it’s neuroblastoma research, so that’s important to our family,” Taylor said.
Neuroblastoma is a deadly childhood cancer that has affected 11 children on Lower Vancouver Island, according to Team 4 Hope organizer Colette Hopkins. The organization was founded in 2011 by Hopkins’ sister-in-law, Lisa Hopkins, a Victoria resident whose son is a survivor of Stage 4 neuroblastoma.
This is the fourth year the group has organized the Touch a Truck event, raising $26,000 so far to support neuroblastoma research at B.C. Children’s Hospital.
René underwent radiation and chemotherapy in February and March year to shrink a tumour that developed behind his eye.
Last August, René’s parents took him to Seattle Children’s Hospital so he could receive MIBG therapy, an experimental treatment for advanced neuroblastoma that is not offered in B.C. The treatment reduced the cancer but did not eliminate it. There is no cure for relapsed neuroblastoma.
“It’s hard for us to hear that they’re really struggling,” Colette Hopkins said. “We hope that [this fundraiser] will help them. And if it doesn’t help them, it will help other kids in the same situation.”
Taylor and her husband, Luis Soto, have taken time off work to care for René full time, putting a strain on their finances.
The Victoria Odd Fellows recently donated $1,000 to the family so they can take a trip to Tofino this June. A fundraising web page, youcaring.com/julialuis-and-rene-soto-361650, has also been set up to help support the family.
Touch a Truck runs today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Panorama Recreation Centre, with a barbecue hosted by Fairway Market. The cost at the door is $20 for a family or $10 for a single ticket.