MItchell's Fund

Mitchell was 3 months old when Meg asked the doctor to check out some unusual bruises. It was the last normal day of their lives.

I'll never forget this. He said, Meg, the best case is he's got an infection of his blood. The worst case is it's cancer. It was, you know, just shock upon shock upon shock that nothing can prepare you for. By noon, they told us they were over 90% sure that he had white blood cell cancer, and by 5 o'clock, they told us that he had leukemia and he would be in treatment for 2 years. And that he had a 40% chance of surviving.

Charlotteans shared the family's shock and pain and reached out with support.

We realized very quickly that due to my husband's work, we had full coverage, his insurance. We were so blessed, and we felt that we had an opportunity to Create a vessel in Mitchell's Fund that could receive the funds that people wanted to raise for us and turn them around and do good for other families.

Life doesn't stop when you get a diagnosis like this. Life keeps going, and you have to keep up and do that for your child too. As the nurse, we're kinda like a priest. People will talk to us and they tell us what's going on in their lives. You know, I can't pay my mortgage. I haven't been working, or I lost my job because I was out too much for my kid who has cancer.

Mitchell achieved remission very quickly, and I knew that there could be roadblocks. He started to have nosebleeds. One of the doctors, she said, something is not right, and we're gonna do a bone marrow aspiration. The cancer is back, and it's in over 80% of his bone marrow. They told us that We would have to begin treatment all over again.

Pediatric oncologist Dr. Jessica Bell sees the parents suffer too.

Seeing their child lose their hair, not eating, not playing, the machines beeping, alarms, IV tubes, I mean, it's a completely different experience.

I almost think that the relapse was more The journey is more difficult than the actual diagnosis, but you, you just, you don't give up. You have to keep going, you have to keep believing, and you have to keep praying for that miracle. So awful to see him so sick. It was so awful for me as his mother to bear the pain.

When a parent's world is crashing around them, Mitchell's Fund offers what Dr. Bell calls quiet grace.

I don't know that families are necessarily getting the help. We call out, we say, you know, here's a family in need, and the next thing I know, a family is just—

feels—

you can just see a visible weight taken off of them.

We had a young adult patient who was at the National Institute of Health and in a clinical trial, and they had basically They had basically done all they could do, and they knew that they couldn't do anything else, and he really just wanted to be at home. But the flight was going to cost $15,000 to get him flown back home so that he could be with his family and his church community and his friends. Through Mitchell's Fund and another fund, they said, we'll do what we have to do to get him here. And I get a little emotional about that situation, but it— I mean, it It truly, it truly signifies what Mitchell's Fund is about.

We had put him on life support, and my minister came to see me the next day, and I sat with him and I said, I'm ready. I don't know that Mitchie is going to recover from this. And I said, I'm ready for God to take him.

I would ask that given the benefit that Mitchell's Fund is making in our community and to these children, that if people are willing to borrow our cause even for one day or one moment and to put themselves in the shoes of families like Mitchell's family, then I think that they will be very rewarded.

I think when we can relieve some of the financial stress that families face, they can really focus on getting their child better.

Mitchell's Fund, the quiet grace to help families when it really counts.