Healthy Holiday Hustle 2023: Hustle for help…(and be someone’s angel)

“Your child has cancer.”

Imagine hearing those words. Imagine your stomach drops and your mind starts spinning as the doctor explains medically all that lies ahead – treatment options, additional doctors, side effects, prognosis, a plan. Imagine you feel overwhelmed by all the medical jargon, the statistics, the research, the unknown outcome ahead. It’s quite literally unbearable, and yet that’s only the beginning.

You will have to quit your job, or at the very least take a leave of absence. There will be endless things that are not covered by insurance. You have some savings but it’s not enough. You need to make impossible choices like being bedside with your child during treatment or keeping your home.

This is not an uncommon scenario. In fact, 83.5% of families with a child undergoing cancer treatment will experience some level of financial hardship and 1 in 3 families are unable to afford their home, utilities, and food while undergoing cancer treatment. The stress of how you will provide basic needs to your family during a mentally and physically draining time is just too much to handle.

As if receiving a cancer diagnosis wasn’t enough.

Wendy and Bill Brewster didn’t have to imagine this scenario because it happened to them. Twice.

Wendy left her job as a customer service representative at an insurance broker when she was 24 weeks pregnant with her second child because she was put on mandatory bed rest. A week after her daughter Madison was born prematurely, the doctors diagnosed her with Down Syndrome among several other health problems. Fifteen months later, she was diagnosed with Leukemia and put on a 6–8-month treatment plan, where her tiny body fought hard and eradicated the cancer. After a couple of years in remission, at 5 years old, Maddy was diagnosed with a different type of Leukemia. She had cancer, again. And Wendy and Bill were terrified and scrambling…again.

Wendy’s husband Bill was an active Detroit Police officer at the time, but it was difficult to provide for a family of four to begin with, not to mention a child with special needs AND a cancer diagnosis. It was impossible for Wendy to go back to work with Maddy’s treatment and therapy schedule. Her treatment plan this time around was nearly 3 years. They were behind on their mortgage and worried they would lose their home. The life they were living was more like a nightmare.

And that’s when Angels of Hope stepped in.

Angels of Hope is a 100% volunteer operated non-profit organization whose main focus is to provide critical support (i.e., mortgage payments, utilities, gas, groceries) to Michigan families directly impacted by cancer. Their goal is to help ease the burden caused by the disease, its treatment, and its devastating effects – both financial and emotional.

Angels of Hope helped Wendy and Bill with their mortgage and utilities as well as giving them a gift card to help with groceries during Maddy’s treatment. They also enrolled them in their Holiday Program where they were matched with a sponsor and were essentially given the Christmas of their dreams."

“What Angels of Hope did for us was emotionally overwhelming in a positive way. It relieved so much of the financial stress so we could focus on our child and put food on the table. You have to swallow your pride and ask for what you need…ask for help.”

Help.

Everyone needs help at some point in their lives. A support system, a community, an angel to step up and give. Angels of Hope is an example of a group of individuals who donate their time and efforts to families like the Brewsters can feel supported and financially secure during arguably one of the worst things a parent can go through.

2023’s Healthy Holiday Hustle benefitted Angels of Hope and 10% of all donations went to Mighty Millie – an Atlanta-based non-profit that supports childhood cancer research and provides organic freezer popsicles wherever childhood cancer treatment is ongoing. Because no parent should ever hear the words, “your child has cancer” to begin with.

Maybe the help you need this holiday season pales in comparison to what the Brewsters have gone through. Maybe you just need some motivation to keep moving, someone to talk to, a community to cheer you on. Or maybe you’re doing okay in this season, and you want to help…to be that angel for someone else. Maybe there’s someone who could benefit from your time, your shoulder, your actions, your support.

Let’s get comfortable asking for and receiving help. Let’s find ways to help others when we are feeling good ourselves. The world can be a pretty scary place, but with a little help, you never know what you are able to endure and achieve.  

At the end of our conversation, Wendy broke down. “We received so many blessings to help us through this,” she told me. “Thank you is never enough.”

Which is why the Brewsters are volunteering their time with Angels of Hope and other organizations that helped their family during Maddy’s battle. Thank you might not be enough, but helping others is.

And the funny thing about help is that whether you give it or receive it, it usually comes full circle. And on the rollercoaster of life, that’s all we can really ask for.

A little help when we need it the most.

Our 2023 Hustle brought together nearly 400 Hustlers from across the country and we were able to raise $18,114 for Angels of Hope and Mighty Millie. It was an extra special year, as we surpassed the $100k milestone with an officially tally of $111,053 raised over the past 9 years for 12 different organizations. The Hustle was also awarded the Angels of Hope Champions in Hope award, recognizing the organization’s top outside fundraisers!