When a child is diagnosed with cancer, parents can feel distraught. The new program connects them with volunteers who have cared for childhood cancer survivors.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Devon Still is a former NFL defensive back who played for the Cincinnati Bengals. He is used to fighting the most determined opponents and winning. But in 2014, Still found himself in a situation he could never have imagined. His four-year-old daughter Leah got cancer. His first reaction was shock.
DEVON STILL: Like, it can't be my daughter. This can't be my life. I just played in the NFL. Everything was great.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
He says friends and family offered support and words of encouragement, but sometimes they missed the mark.
STILL: And they would say that everything happens for a reason. And to me, even though I know there were good intentions behind it, it felt like a disregard for how I truly felt.
KELLY: But he found solidarity in the waiting rooms with other parents who were dealing with similar emotions, and that's what today's installment of our Here to Help series on community and service is about.
STILL: We sat on the oncology floor of the hospital with many other families going through the same thing.
KELLY: So earlier this year, when Devon Still heard about a new program offering support to parents like him, he used his platform to spread the word. It's called the Hopeful Hearts Peer Mentor Program, run by the nonprofit Cancer Hope Network. It connects parents facing a child's cancer diagnosis and treatment with volunteer mentors who have been through the same thing.
LEE GREER: Being able to talk to someone who's been there and is on the other end, I think it's just a lifeline for some families, for some parents.
SUMMERS: This is Lee Grier from Greenfield Township, Pennsylvania. She has a 13-year-old daughter whose cancer is in remission. As a volunteer, she offers to listen to other parents in the program.
GRIER: To be able to then guide someone and know, maybe not everything they're feeling, but know a lot about where they are, is a gift that we've been given.
KELLY: Chrissy Thomas is another volunteer mentor in Madison, Virginia, who remembers what it was like when her daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in 2021.
CHRISSY THOMAS: I couldn't bring myself to say the word cancer. I think it was just a word sigma. It was scary. And I didn't know what would happen. To achieve that remission, to see it through to the end of treatment and to ring the bell was huge. When I came across Hopeful Hearts on Facebook, I thought, this is what I can do to give back. Here's where I can start.
KELLY: Thomas remembers the first time she called a parent whose child had just started treatment.
THOMAS: We actually talked for about an hour. You know, I gave the floor to the parent. It is very important to have a network of people who know exactly what you feel and how you feel it.
SUMMERS: As for Devon Still, his daughter is 15 now and cancer-free. And he appreciates that volunteers can offer support for all possible outcomes in the fight against cancer, even the worst.
STILL: It's a long road. There is a diagnosis, there is an intermediate stage, and, hopefully, remission will occur. But for many families, it is an acknowledgment that their child has passed away. And to be aware and understand every part of this journey, it is very important to support families.
KELLY: Lee Grier puts it this way.
GRIER: We can't change the path of what's going to happen, but we can be there to support families as they go down that path.
KELLY: For more stories about volunteering in America, visit npr.org/heretohelp.
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