From hell to healing

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

As terrible as cancer is, it reaches a new level of nightmare when it happens to a child.

Even though childhood cancers account for only one per cent of cancer diagnoses in a given year, it is the most common cause of disease-related death. One in every eight children who is diagnosed with cancer will die.

For that reason, it is nothing short of courageous that Oshawa’s Wendt family has come out the other side of their own battle with the disease seemingly brighter than they were before.

“You could look at it as a nightmare, or you could look at it as something that brought us closer together, stronger,” says Melissa Wendt.

For Melissa, it started in November 2013, after taking her three-year-old daughter Amber to Lakeridge Health Oshawa for what she thought was symptoms of pneumonia. It wasn’t until her daughter was transferred to SickKids and further tests were ordered that the worry started to sink in.

Amber was diagnosed with  a rare form of cancer called PPB (pleuropulmonary blastoma) and the treatment started almost immediately. In February 2014, Amber underwent eight hours of surgery to remove the tumour, after which she continued chemotherapy until July.

As awful as the experience was –Melissa in hospital with Amber and her other two children at home with her husband – the separation seemed to have the opposite effect.

“Positivity is what brought us through everything,” she says.

“It was one of the hardest things a family can go through and we made it and we’re still together and happy.”

Now, two years in remission, Amber is a happy six-year-old who stands by her mother’s side as she looks to raise awareness and help in the battle against childhood cancer.

“Just because we made it though doesn’t mean there aren’t others going through the same struggle,” Melissa says.

Soon after the end of Amber’s treatment, Melissa started Whipping Childhood Cancer, a fundraising organization that continues to help families struggling with childhood cancer by providing funds and gift cards, usually around Christmas time.

“We went through so much and we are fortunate and blessed that Amber is here today, but not everybody was that blessed,” she says.

Tomorrow (Sept. 1), Wendt along with Mayor John Henry and members of council, will be raising the Childhood Cancer Awareness flag in Civic Square at City Hall.

“It signifies children fighting for their lives every day,” Melissa says.

For more information or to donate, visit the Let’s Whip Childhood Cancer Facebook page.