PEDIATRIC CANCER
Family foundation shows its support for those coping with the affliction
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> A local family foundation born out of tragedy celebrated its 10th anniversary Monday with a $50,000 donation to Albany Medical Center to help young patients diagnosed with pediatric cancer feel normal in a difficult situation.
The board of directors of Nick’s Fight To Be Healed Foundation, a Clifton Park-based nonprofit, recently presented the check to officials with Albany Med at the Foundation’s annual gathering in the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library.
The gift to the Melodies Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at the Bernard & Millie Duker Children’s Hospital at Albany Med will help pay for the hospital’s position of a Child Life Specialist.
The position, held by Mary Beth Nichols, is considered to be such a vital and positive one for pediatric cancer patients and their families by the Foundation, that helping to fund it has become part of Nick’s Fight to Be Healed Foundation’s mission.
“I remember 10 years ago, sitting in my husband’s office and I was pretty much a shell of who I was,” said Nick’s Fight To Be Healed Foundation co-founder and president, Janine Cammarata. “It was three months since we’d lost my son Nick and the idea of a foundation had come up because we felt there were things that could have been done to help his stay [in the hospital] be more comfortable. As a pre-teen, there weren’t a lot of services for him.”
The Cammarata’s set out to change that by establishing Nick’s Fight To Be Healed Foundation with Nick’s motto, “nothing is impossible.” Through fundraisers of all types and many donations during the past 10 years, the foundation has raised a $1 million. Monday’s donation was part of that total.
The Foundation’s mission is to support pediatric cancer patients as well as serve the young adult cancer community and improve the quality of life by promoting well-being, reducing stress within the entire family, and providing resources to help children diagnosed with cancer lead fun and fulfilling lives.
Though the atmosphere in the library’s large room was one of family, Janine Cammarata made note of what was at the forefront of the occasion.
“This is not a family anyone chooses to be part of,” she said, referring to all the families that must deal with pediatric cancer. “We are a family of connections, support, and empowerment.”
Dr. Joanne Porter, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Albany Med attended the event to give some medical insight into how much the Foundation means to the young patients.
“The opportunity to work with your foundation has transformed a lot of what we’re able to do at the medical center,” Porter said. “You may have heard through the work you’ve done or the stories that are told or maybe some of the experiences you’ve had yourself with working with families at the medi
cal center, their lives are turned upside down.
“They don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. So being able to offer some little light in their day through the hope bags, or the journaling or yoga lets them be normal for a few minutes. When they’re going through treatment, it doesn’t seem to them that they’ll ever be normal again, so offering them any of these services that you do, is really something special. They need that hope, so what you do is a very special gift. We thank you for thinking of our kids.”
Nichols, the hospital’s Child Life Specialist also was at the gathering. Nichols is responsible for developing therapeutic and supportive relationships with patients and families, to provide advocacy, and to initiate referrals to services within the hospital and community.
“Just going into the room with one of the hope bags and presenting it to the parents, letting them know they are part of this family now, even though they never chose to be part of it, and that we are with them on this journey, is a way to give them a source of hope and comfort,” she said. “It’s an honor for me to do that for the Foundation, and the family is always thrilled.”
The Foundation’s adult volunteer of the year, Kyle Bryant, runs the organization’s golf tournament fundraiser.
“I love it,” he said. “I wouldn’t change it for the world. I get a lot of help doing it, and it’s great. The last two years we’ve raised $10,000 so this year we’re working to break that mark.”
After the presentation of the donation and the cutting of the cake Janine Cammarata was asked why the Foundation seems to draw so many enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers.
“People have a need to find out what happened, and it comes down them asking, what can I do in light of it,” she said. “They need something to believe in, and if you give them the pathway they’ll go for it.”