Kayla’s story starts, as so many stories do, with a healthy family, living a normal life. Her eldest son had just started kindergarten, and her youngest, Hudson, was 15 months old. 

It was October 2024 when Kayla noticed a lump on her son’s belly.  After visiting Hudson’s paediatrician a couple times without answers, Kayla trusted her motherly instincts that something was wrong and took Hudson to Emerg.

That’s when the whirlwind started.

Kayla heard: “I hate to tell you this, but it could be cancer”. A million things swirled through Kayla’s mind, including disbelief that those words could be said about a toddler… the next step was having to call her husband who was at home with her oldest and tell him the heartbreaking news.  

Tests, scans, numerous doctors, words she didn’t truly understand, a whole new language of medical terminology, it was all part of the whirlwind enveloping Kayla. “I felt that half my heart was protecting my older son at home while trying to be there for every moment at the hospital. I told myself, you can only have control of so much”. 

The day after hearing those life-changing words, they were introduced to a representative from Childcan. She brought with her a bag with information, a quilt, a stuffed animal, and gift cards. In all the craziness,Kayla immediately picked up on how people had made some of these items to let her know that they were not alone, they were part of a community of people who were thinking about families affected by childhood cancer. While the meal vouchers and gift cards were certainly appreciated, what meant the most was to have someone with that listening ear who told her: “This is hard. I get it.”

Hudson was wheeled into surgery on Halloween. Talk about scary. The tumour was removed along with his left kidney, and a port was also put in. After long hours of nervously waiting, the surgeon came out to tell Kayla that the surgery had been a success. 

After surgery, they spent a week in the hospital recovering. Then came waiting on pathology. While they were waiting, Kayla tapped into her creative side and started making crafts for the nurses. Christmas was coming, so they all received ornaments. 

It took weeks for the pathology to come back. An incredibly stressful time. When the results finally came in, the news was unbelievably good. The diagnosis was determined to be Congenital Mesoblastic Nephroma which didn’t need further treatment, just monitoring. The doctors removed the port shortly after and Hudson’s follow up plan would now be scans, blood work and a visit with his oncologist every three months.

“The people we met, the nurses, the kiddos in the hallways, they don’t leave you. They didn’t get the news that we got. That could have been us. I immediately jumped to thinking about how can we help these families? With all those kind gestures, the gas cards, the parking pass, the kindness of people was what really stood out to us. Those gestures held me in moments that were so hard”.

Kayla thought hard about what she could do. She remembered a project she had done for her eldest son’s Kindergarten graduation. She had worked with a teacher who asked the entire class to draw a picture, then Kayla turned each child’s inspiration into a little felt stuffie based on their drawing. 

That creative spark has become ‘Brave Buddies’. Oncology patients draw a design on a piece of paper, hand it to Todd, who passes the design on to Kayla, who lovingly creates their masterpiece. Inside each stuffie is a special word, picked at random, and a sparkly gold heart, representing the love with which she makes each creation. “I feel so honoured to bring their ideas to life. Every design is so different. I know that these children are going through the hardest time of their lives and my goal is to bring their imagination to life to bring and brighten those hard days.”

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍Thank you Kayla, for sharing this incredible story of hope. Thank you for all you are doing to bring much-needed joy to other Childcan kids and their families. We are truly facing childhood cancer together.

‍

‍