In August 2010 our five year old son Damon Burgess was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. My husband and I were in shock as we sat at Westmead Children’s Hospital and the oncologist came to explain what was happening and what treatment would be involved. Bone marrow aspirations, central venous lines, chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, platelets, neutrophils……..all these words meant nothing to us at the time but were soon to become a part of our daily life. Life as we knew it had been turned upside down and we had no idea what lay ahead.
Damon’s diagnosis meant I had to stop working and that meant our family was financially under a huge amount of pressure. How would we cover our home loan, bills, medical and travel expenses?
Within one week of being diagnosed a friend of our family had made contact with Central Coast Kids in Need on our behalf after hearing an advertisement on the local radio station. The very next day whilst sitting beside Damon’s bedside at Westmead, I received a phone call from a lovely lady at Central Coast Kids in Need who explained how they would be able to help with all our travel expenses. I was completely overwhelmed. We simply had to keep all petrol/parking receipts and they would reimburse us when we send them in.
Over the last ten months we have relied on the support of Central Coast Kids in Need on a weekly basis to help cover our travel expenses to and from Westmead, without this support we would have found it extremely difficult to find the money to cover the regular trips to Westmead for Damon’s treatment, appointments and admissions.
Central Coast Kids in need provides such amazing support to so many local families and i believe it is extremely important for the community to continue to show their support for central coast kids in needs.
THANK YOU CENTRAL COAST KIDS IN NEED!!!
LOVE FROM THE BURGESS FAMILY