There are many organizations we hear and talk about in our lives. When the word cancer is mentioned, individuals are eager to help and ready to write a check. But what if you actually knew the people running the organization and could see where the money you donated went?

On November 3, 2017, the Walker family gained a new title: Cancer Family. Our daughter Lucy was diagnosed with Leukemia ALL. Before our hospital stay was over, we met with the hospital social worker. He explained to us the different organizations that were available to help cancer families. Depending on the need of your family, various organizations were listed. A few organizations that came up were: The American Cancer Society, The National Children’s Cancer Society, and Small Miracles. As we know, most of these organizations are national businesses. They have employees, large budgets and personal connections with families are not common. As the conversation continued, he noted that most organizations on the list helped families one time a year and some only once. With more information and more organizations discussed, our social worker mentioned Darian’s Gift. He informed us that this organization served the Marion and Polk County families, but wanted us to know that he didn’t know much about them because they were new.

On February 14, 2018, our family was officially welcomed by the Darian’s Gift Foundation. Laurel reached out to our family and she quickly set up a meeting time. We met with Laurel, and her two sons Brandon and Michael. We quickly learned our families were similar. Her son Michael had also been diagnosed with Leukemia ALL. He was recently out of treatment and doing amazing when we met. As time went by we quickly learned that the Darian’s Gift Foundation was different. They immediately showed love, compassion and were willing to help our family in any way they could. Before our first official meet and greet was finished, we learned more about Darian’s Gift. We could not believe this organization was run by one part-time employee, incredible volunteers and were serving over 20 families. They have shown constant support both financially and emotionally, value the time with their cancer families and go out of their way to provide events and activities that allow cancer families to feel normal.

For over 1 year, Darian’s Gift has been with our family on our cancer journey and has been an incredible blessing. Having the face to face contact, mutual understanding on how cancer affects the family continued financial support and friends who are family.

Darian’s Gift allows cancer families like ours to continue to the fight and feel hopeful knowing they are not alone.  When donors donate to Darian’s Gift, their gracious donations are directly impacting families each day.

Thank you for listening to our story.

Tyler, Lucy’s Mom