Dave and Rebekah Campbell are used to the daily routine that goes along with having five kids.
The couple scramble to get nine-year-old twins Owen and Emma, Kate, 6, Sara, 4, and Molly, 2, ready for bed each night. ItB次元官网网址檚 a production line of showers and brushing teeth and tucking them into bed. except on days when Molly is undergoing chemotherapy. Or blood transfusions. Or a bone marrow transplant in a foreign city.
Those are the routines the Campbells wish they never knew.
The family has spent the majority of MollyB次元官网网址檚 life battling her acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Victoria, at B.C. ChildrenB次元官网网址檚 Hospital in Vancouver and now in Memphis, Tenn.
For the past month theyB次元官网网址檝e been living in a rented apartment near world-renowned St. JudeB次元官网网址檚 Hospital.
Molly underwent a second stem cell transplant there Jan. 30, with doctors harvesting her motherB次元官网网址檚 bone marrow as part of an experimental treatment protocol.
The return of the disease last November, following MollyB次元官网网址檚 first transplant in 2011 at B.C. ChildrenB次元官网网址檚, devastated the Campbells. But it has helped their youngest child to have the entire family together, Dave said.
B次元官网网址淭he (three oldest) kids go to school from nine to three every day, so they get a bit of an escape,B次元官网网址� he said.
B次元官网网址淏ut itB次元官网网址檚 hard to focus on the day-to-day when youB次元官网网址檙e always B次元官网网址� in the back of your mind B次元官网网址� waiting for the other shoe to drop. Our lives change in an instant, depending on the results we get on these tests.B次元官网网址�
The Campbells will find out in the coming days if this latest treatment is showing signs of success.
In the meantime, friends back home are organizing a silent auction for tomorrow (March 2) to ease some of the financial strain of living in the U.S.
B次元官网网址淭he family said they needed prayers, but itB次元官网网址檚 a couple of months down the road now,B次元官网网址� said auction organizer Amanda Turner. B次元官网网址淭here just wasnB次元官网网址檛 anything else we could do except raise money.B次元官网网址�
Turner has collected more than 80 auction items, including beauty products, gift certificates, Rifflandia music festival passes and even a box suite from the Victoria Royals.
While the Campbells wonB次元官网网址檛 be back in Victoria for at least the next eight months, they said the many messages of support they receive are what keep them sustained.
B次元官网网址淭his is a huge undertaking and we never thought weB次元官网网址檇 be in this situation,B次元官网网址� Dave said.
B次元官网网址淔or people to step up again, so that we can stay together as a family, is just incredible.B次元官网网址�
MollyB次元官网网址檚 fundraiser takes place at Koffi caf茅, 1441 Haultain St., from 2 to 5 p.m., March 2.
To read regular updates from the Campbells, visit mollycampbell.ca.
dpalmer@vicnews.com
