Note of Thanks

This afternoon, the staff at Heroes for Children received the following email note of thanks from Caren Heilman, pediatric oncology social worker at Dell Children's Hospital in Austin. It is notes like this one that make us feel truly blessed to work each day to support families battling childhood cancer.

Thank you, Caren, for sharing!!


I just wanted to send a thank you note to everyone at Heroes For Children. Thanks for all you do for our families through financial assistance and the laptop program. At this time of year, it has made a significant difference to be able to tell families that we can get a bill paid for them when things seem to be impossible from their perspective.

It has been especially remarkable to give out the rest of the laptops that were allocated to our patients. The looks on our patients’ faces has been priceless. Several parents even became tearful. I wanted to share that most of them are so appreciative, but one patient was in disbelief. He examined the laptop very closely and began planning how he would go about taking care of it to ensure that his siblings (all six that remain in the home) would not damage it. He read the release several times and then got out his phone and began typing in information (I am guessing the name and location of your organization—I didn’t ask because his mother was so moved that she was crying and talking to me at the same time). I would not be a bit surprised if he ends up contacting you himself.

So thanks to all of you from all of us. Thanks for making it possible for us to bear witness to these little moments. These are some of those inspiring moments that remind me how very much I love my job. Our staff has gone through a difficult time lately, but when I tell them these stories, or they get to take part in these moments, it sticks with us for a long time and makes the difficulty just a little more bearable.

Happy holidays and peace to you all,
Caren