Learning To Accept Help

Three weeks into Ellie’s journey and we have been overwhelmed with the love and support provided by our friends and family, near and far. We have received so many messages from wonderful people who are offering to help in any way they can. This is an unusual feeling for us as over the years we have grown used to managing our family with little support. This is largely due to regular postings for Paul’s work and being separated from Paul’s family (Perth) and Kara’s family (America). We have become used to adapting and doing what we need to accommodate family situations.
 
One thing we quickly learned after Ellie’s diagnosis is that we can’t do this on our own. The hospital’s fantastic team of support, which includes social workers have emphasised that we will need help throughout this process and that we need to learn how to accept help from friends and family who really want to help. These lessons are reinforced in the literature provided to us, and we are doing our best to read as much of it as possible.
 
Our amazing friends, and Godparents to Ellie – asked us if we would be comfortable with them establishing a GoFundMe page to support Ellie’s treatment and rehabilitation. Initially, we weren’t very comfortable with the idea as our thoughts were that there are so many people in a worse situation than us. We are fortunate to live 15 mins away from the best hospital in Australia for children’s cancer, whereas many other families in the unit have to travel significant distance from regional NSW just to be with their child; We are fortunate to be posted to Sydney when the diagnosis occurred, rather than Darwin or Townsville where we would need to crash-post and move to Sydney or Brisbane for treatment; We are fortunate to live in Australia where our health system means all Australian’s get the same quality of care for acute conditions like cancer; We are fortunate that our employers are understanding and flexible enough to help us work out a balance between caring for Ellie and working at a rate that is sustainable for our family; and we are fortunate to have loving family who have travelled to Sydney to help, and friends who are looking to help in any way they can.
 
However, we know that Ellie’s treatment and recovery will extend well beyond her acute care in hospital. We know that for a number of years after achieving remission, she will need ongoing hospital visits, check-ups, and possibly additional treatment. We also know there will be long term implications from her chemotherapy treatment that will require different medical treatment, and she will likely need ongoing learning support and physical rehabilitation. We don’t fully understand the extent of these issues and cannot predict the future. However, we have learned that every child responds differently to treatment and while the future is somewhat uncertain, what is certain is that it will challenge us all.
 
It is for these reasons that we agreed to the generous offer for the GoFundMe page to be established for our Ellie. We are incredibly humbled by all the offers for support and we know this will provide a mechanism to allow people who are unsure how to help, to offer their support. We are so very appreciative of everyone’s generous support, thoughts, and prayers.
 
Ellie’s GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-ellie-carter

PC