Anne Won remembers the seven months she spent at a hospital as her young daughter received radiation treatments for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The toxic medications were neon green or blue, she said. There were doctor consultations at which Won took had to be her daughter’s advocate, and long, stressful, emotional days.
What brought a small bit of happiness were the bingo games the hospital hosted for cancer families.
“We looked forward to it because it was something fun to do,” Won said. “I always remember in the midst of the hardship, there was something fun to do and celebrate with other people in the hospital.”
With those experiences now in the past — her 16-year-old daughter now in remission — Won tries to bring similar moments of happiness to families who have children in the midst of pediatric cancer treatments or whose children are survivors, she said.
To that end, Won hosted a “gold party” at her South Elgin home Saturday. Gold is the color representing pediatric cancer, and this is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.
Among the highlights of the day: playing bingo, of course.
Ella Joy drew the numbers while her brother, Asaph, 14, announced them.
It’s been eight years since Ella Joy underwent a bone marrow transplant. Asaph was a perfect match; the procedure saved her life.
She was 4 years old when she was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“I just remember that I had to miss school a lot,” Ella Joy said. “It was hard for me to understand why I had to get so many shots and be at the hospital.”
After treatment for two and a half years, she went into remission only to get sick again when she was 8. This time the diagnosis was T-cell leukemia.
Her family took her for treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she underwent total body radiation and chemotherapy. What Ella Joy remembers of that time is how family and friends provided support to her and her family. “They were all praying for me,” she said.
She also remembers the 1,000 origami cranes people made for her. In Japan, cranes symbolize hope, peace and healing, according to japan-experience.com.
“She battled it twice, and God healed her twice,” her mother said.
A relapse is always possible so it’s important to celebrate the milestones, big and small, like Ella Joy attending St. Charles North High School homecoming on the same day as the party, Won said.
“I never want to take it for granted. It’s such a miracle, and I’m so thankful to God,” she said.
Saturday’s gold party was the second Won has hosted. She donated the bingo game prizes, and her neighbors and area businesses helped pull the event off. Village Squire and Jersey Mike’s were among the restaurants that donated food, she said.
One big goal is to provide a day of fun without attendees having to think about things like spinal taps or chemotherapy treatments, Won said. But it’s also important to keep the focus on pediatric cancer awareness, she said.
“There is such a little percentage for cancer research,” she said. “I want to know that we really need to have more studies and more awareness of childhood cancer so there can be more cures, more medications and more healing.”
Elgin resident Linda Richlen heard about the event through a social media post for Camp One, a camp for cancer patients. Her daughter, Abby, was diagnosed with leukemia at age 4, and 10 years later is now in remission and a high school freshman.
Richlen said she’d like people to be more sensitive with families of cancer patients, she said. Some people told her leukemia was an “easy” cancer, she said.
“No cancer is easy. It might be highly treatable, but it takes a toll financially and emotionally,” Richlen said.
While it’s hard not to think that “her daughter was robbed of her childhood,” she said, “things like this give it back to her.”
South Elgin mom Erin Bibly knows how Richlen feels. Her 16-year-old daughter, Ireland, was diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of the eye, and underwent treatment for 18 months during her freshman year of high school.
Pediatric cancer patients see what other kids are doing on social media while “they are sitting in the hospital getting these aggressive treatments, feeling terrible and not knowing the outcome,” Bibly said. “They just want to feel good, not be sick.”
Richlen said she worried her daughter would lose her spunk because of what she went through, “but she didn’t. She’s still the happy-go-lucky person she always was.”
And just like Ella Joy, Ireland Bibly was going to St. Charles North’s homecoming that night. After what they’ve been through, Erin Bibly knows that “every moment counts,” she said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.