After being told by a doctor that her ten-year-old daughter, Ellie, had a harmless cyst on her face, Sam Taylor reached out to a plastic surgeon to have it removed for cosmetic purposes.
Little did Sam and Ellie know that everything was about to change. At the follow-up appointment, Ellie was officially diagnosed with cancer. “One look at the nurse’s face was all it took for the air to be sucked out of the room,” says Sam.
For Sam, Ellie’s cancer diagnosis was incredibly hard to come to terms with. She was lost, afraid, angry, and worried—she needed help. Sam says that when the parent is struggling, you can assume that the child is also struggling.
“When your child is diagnosed with cancer, you are thrown onto a terrifying road entirely in darkness. The support I got from Wellspring gave me the power to keep going. Wellspring’s professional counsellor gave me practical, tangible tools that were like a flashlight for me on that road, and the support group members showed me I wasn’t alone.”
Ellie finished her treatment in April with success and is now being monitored with an MRI every three months for the next five years, while Sam is working towards becoming a Wellspring Peer Support Volunteer. “Wellspring made it possible for me to carry my daughter through the horror of cancer,” says Sam.
Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation is a charity which, through a series of professionally-led online and in-person programs, helps people living with cancer improve their quality of life and health outcomes. These programs are designed to provide connection and belonging; ease pain, fatigue, and distress; build strength and mobility; and support financial and workplace challenges.
Wellspring receives no core government or hospital funding, and programs are available to Wellspring members free-of-charge and without medical referral.
Find more information on Wellspring’s website – wellspring.ca