“Verily, I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness. For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good, they shall in nowise lose their reward”
Doctrine and Covenants 58:27-28
The last few years I have been anxiously engaged in a good cause. After I wrote my book “Two Mothers One Prayer: Facing your child’s cancer with Hope, Strength & Courage”, about my daughter Celeste and another beautiful little girl Hayley, after the book was published and I was connecting with the pediatric oncology community and other cancer moms, I asked a whole bunch of moms if they would share their best advice. I asked them, “What is the one thing you wish you knew when your child was first diagnosed? What do you know now that you wished someone had told you days, weeks, months earlier?”
They came back with some wonderful advice. But I also noticed that a number of moms mentioned the importance of keeping track of everything. I remembered all the things we had to keep track of when Celeste was diagnosed. Diagnosis, treatment plans, medical team, appointments, medications, symptoms, reactions, blood counts etc. plus everything that was going on at home. Who was helping with meals or laundry, who was talking Desiree to soccer practice and who was picking up Grayson from daycare. So many things to organize.
That’s when I started thinking about designing a planner just for cancer moms. I made a list of everything that needed to be in the planner then I found a designer to help me turn it into something beautiful as well as useful.
Fast forward 3 years and we have now had 4 print runs and distributed 600 planners to 11 hospitals across Canada and New York State. We have been able to give away the planners through generous donations, partnerships with local businesses and local grants. So far, we have delivered planners to families in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Buffalo, NY and Omaha, NE.
We have had an amazing partnership with Castle Niagara Building & Design Center in Fonthill, Ontario. This spring they partnered with the Niagara Ice Dogs hockey team and Country 98 and GiantFM radio stations to announce that for every goal the Ice Dogs made during the season, Castle Niagara would sponsor another planner! At the last game of the season the staff from GiantFm and Kevin Brolibruck from Castle Niagara presented us with a cheque for $3,000.
Most recently, Stronger: The Daily Planner for the Most Amazing Mothers on the Planet just won a Spark award from the LDSPMA association, which will be presented at their annual conference in October in Utah.
Additionally, another one of our partners, Maljohn Plastics Company Ltd located in both Hamilton Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan, announced that they are going to match all donations made in September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. They have pledged to match up to $5,000 in donations and when we reach $5,000 they will not only match it but will pledge an additional $5,000!
Project Forgive run by Emmy award winning journalist Dr. Shawne Duperon has generously spotlighted my short story, “A day in the life of a cancer mom”. If you have ever wondered what a day in the hospital looks like this is only a 6 min read. Dr Shawne describes it as: “This breathtakingly, beautifully written article shares the realities for moms dealing with cancer and what their families face every day.”
If your family has been impacted by cancer and you would like to support our project, feel free to check out the Stronger Daily Planner website and email our team with the contribution you would like to make.
I can share with you that the mothers who are receiving the planners are reporting how grateful they are to have them.
“Thank you so much for donating these wonderful and thoughtful daily planners. I handed them out yesterday and a mom this morning pulled me aside and was RAVING about how amazing it is. She said she definitely wants more!! Thank you so much,” Allie Jones, CCLS , Child Life Specialist, John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital, Buffalo NY.
Please help us reach our goal of distributing these planners to 1000’s of families across North America and raise more awareness of childhood cancer during September and become “anxiously engaged in a good cause.” #ChildhoodCancerAwarenessMonth
“As we pray for {and then support] others, it helps us to develop more compassion and charity and develop unselfishness.”
Laura Lane from ‘I Touch the Heavens’