How Zoee Got Her Groove Back
“On the last day of SunRise, Zoee didn’t even want to come home. She ran up to me with a little boy and said, ‘Mom! We met someone else with a port!’ Then they both started showing me their chemo ports. It was amazing! I teared up. It was so beautiful.” ~ Kayla Pasciullo
Zoee was two years old and enjoying her first camping trip with her family—Mom and Dad and big sisters Aubri (4), Haley (11) and Cydney (13). Just an ordinary family holiday that would come to mark a critical turning point in their lives forever.
On that fateful trip, little Zoee became feverish and stayed feverish for days.
“She would wake up with death cries at night,” recalls Zoee’s dad Dave Lattery. “She was in a lot of pain at night.”
Several trips to the hospital later and Zoee was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Ninety six per cent of her blood cells were cancerous.
Zoee’s treatment protocol required three years of chemotherapy and all the toxicity and long-term health risks that come with it. Enduring painful medical treatments and prolonged isolation, Zoee began to withdraw, refusing to do anything without her parents nearby.
But two months into Zoee’s cancer treatments, her mom discovered Kids Cancer Care. Thanks to you, that summer, Zoee and Aubri were able to attend SunRise, a day camp in the city, while their older sisters Haley and Cydney went to Camp Kindle.
The transformation in Zoee was remarkable.
“It was after SunRise that Zoee started to get herself back,” Dave says. “After that camp she started to socialize again and was able to do things on her own without worrying about us being there all the time. It really changed her. She found her old self again.”
Buoyed by Zoee’s triumphant change, the whole family attended Kids Cancer Care’s Family Camp at Camp Kindle that fall.
“Family Camp was the most amazing experience I’ve had in a long time,” says Kayla. “Normally, everywhere you go, you feel uncomfortable, like an outcast and an outsider. You have to explain that your daughter has leukemia and she’s on chemotherapy. Then you go to a place like Camp Kindle and you see kids in treatment together and everyone is just easy and comfortable.”
Families like the Pasciullo-Latteries typically spend about 38 per cent of their annual household income on out-of-pocket expenses during their child’s cancer journey. Thanks to you, Zoee’s family was able to enjoy our free, year-round Camp and Outreach programs without worrying about their finances.
“These programs are things kids actually enjoy doing,” says Dave. “They’re safe, fun activities that our family probably never would have done because we just couldn’t afford it.”
Discovering a healing community through our Camp and Outreach programs was a decisive moment in Zoee’s cancer journey. It was the moment the Pasciullo-Lattery family turned the corner and Zoee got her groove back.
“Kids Cancer Care changed our family’s cancer journey because up until then it was an unhappy experience for us,” says Dave. “All the other families at Camp Kindle were dealing with the same stuff and it’s a lot easier to enjoy activities with people who are in the same boat and know what you’re going through. There’s an unspoken connection between everyone there.”
Thank you for making healing possible for kids like Zoee and her family. With your support, we were able to help 837 happy campers find friendship and healing in a caring community that understands.