The Problem

Families of a child with cancer or a life-threatening blood disorder need all kinds of help. A diagnosis affects not just the ill child but the entire family. Kids with cancer receive aggressive treatments that can last from several months to several years. Children with sickle cell disease, the second largest group of kids treated in the pediatric heme-oncology clinic, face a lifetime of health problems; pain crises, blood transfusions, strokes and more. Children and teens with cancer and blood disorders who cannot be cared for in their local community hospital often travel to regional specialty treatment centers, like the American Family Children’s Hospital.

Many of the kids Badger Childhood Cancer Network serves travel two hours or more each way for tests, treatments and hospitalization at the American Family Children’s Hospital. Surveys of these families indicate that they experience an average decrease in family income of 40% or more during the first year after diagnosis for cancer, and a lower level of income loss over a much longer period of time in the case of children with chronic disorders like sickle cell disease. This significant loss of income is due in part because frequent treatment protocols require constant care from a parent. A parent must leave work temporarily or permanently to accompany a child to critical appointments and treatments. Travel and meal expenses contribute to the loss of income for many families.