Cambridge mum Kim Guest will remember forever the day her three-year-old son Zack was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
Kim Guest and Zack are sharing their story, hoping people will get behind a fundraising campaign.
“It was April 15 last year,” she said.
“Zack had been at the GP’s office that week, and once we were referred to Waikato Hospital, I had the expectation of leaving with a simple viral infection.
“When the doctor came in to break the news, life did a 180 in a few seconds. It was a wave of emotion of just feeling like I’d failed my son, was there anything we had done as parents? Then we found out that it was nothing we had done and these things do happen to the best of them.”
Ten months on, Kim is hoping people will get behind Ronald McDonald House appeal month in March.
“Honestly, you have no idea what Ronald McDonald House’s support has meant to our family,” she said.
“Without it, things would have been very different for us.”
Ronald McDonald House Charities New Zealand is encouraging people to go the distance for families with a child in hospital this month, through its annual House to House challenge.
On average, families from travel 210km from their home to a Ronald McDonald House to be close to their child as they receive life-saving hospital treatment.
The campaign encourages kiwis to fundraise by going the distance, sponsored, in their own way, whether that is cycling, running, swimming or walking 210km, 21km or even 2.1km. This week organisers of the House to House appeal reported more than 1600 fundraisers had covered 14,500km, and raised more than $98,000 towards a $500,000 target.
Kim worked at the Waikato Institute for Leadership and Sport Studies before Zack became unwell and her husband Allayne is a teacher at St Peter’s School. The couple, originally from South Africa, live in Cambridge and have four children in their blended family.
Over the past 10 and a half months, Zack has visited Auckland’s Ronald McDonald Domain House more than 100 times while receiving treatment at Starship Children’s Hospital.
“The house has taken the pressure off us a lot from a financial point of view, and if you need a shoulder to cry on when there’s no one else around, you’ve got it,” Kim said.
“Without Domain House and their amazing staff, we would be feeling a lot more stressed.”
She estimates Zack has endured about 100 chemotherapy doses since his diagnosis. They often leave him feeling lethargic and nauseous – but the bubbly preschooler has never lost his joie de vivre.
“Zack is honestly the friendliest, happiest, go-getter little boy there is,” Kim said.
“He makes friends with anyone and everyone and he has everyone wrapped around his little finger because he’s so cute. He’s very intelligent; he just wants to know everything. He asks 101 questions, he wants to help with everything. His brain works very fast.”
Today, she is full of hope for her son.
“His prognosis is good. His cancer count has come down so significantly, I know he’s going to be okay. So his future is bright.”
She hopes people will get behind this month’s Ronald McDonald House fundraiser.
“I would say a little goes a long way,” she said.
“They might not think that they’re making a difference, but it all adds up and they really are changing lives.”
Zack Guest
