By Kimberly McLean
When her daughter Caitlin was diagnosed with cancer at age 3 in 2001, Jamie Paulson didn?t know where to turn. After two surgeries and a false remission report suggesting chemotherapy as the next step, the Paulson family decided they couldn?t handle the anxiety and apprehension alone.
Remembering an informational support kit given out at Primary Children?s Hospital about a childhood cancer group called Candlelighters, Paulson decided to check it out.
?Once we realized what we were dealing with and that this was going to be a long-term thing, Candlighters opened up the doors of the cancer world to us,? Paulson, a Provo resident, said. ?We feel like we?ve had a lot of support ? extended family, friends, neighbors and our ward ? but even with those good people around us, we felt like they didn?t quite understand what we were going through.?
More than 600 families in Utah and 50,000 families across the nation are finding the same reliable support that the Candlelighters organization is providing the Paulsons.
The Utah Candlelighters chapter is having a Celebration of Courage fundraiser tonight in Park City from 7-10 p.m.
?Supporting groups like Candlelighters is important,? Paulson said. ?It runs off of donations and these donations show victims and their families that the community does care, and that?s a comforting thing.?
Candlelighters is a national non-profit educational and support organization for anyone associated with childhood cancer: survivors of childhood cancer, families of victims, families of survivors and families and victims of childhood cancer who are currently dealing with the disease.
?The families in Candlelighters know our joy and our pain better than anyone else and can really relate to us,? Paulson said.
Candlelighters provides monthly activities for both victims and their families and allow parents a support network in dealing with the struggles associated with cancer.
Paulson said Candlelighters always came through for their family. The activities provide the children with an opportunity to socialize in an atmosphere where they are not the odd one out.
?No one thinks it?s strange if you don?t have hair,? Paulson said. ?Caitlin even told me ?bald is beautiful? when she was starting her chemotherapy.?
The chemotherapy did not deprive the now 7-year-old Caitlin of her blond curls, fortunately, and she is now in remission.
Kandy Downs is also parent of a childhood cancer patient and works for Candlelighters.
?Everything we do is centered around the kids and providing fun activities for them,? Downs said. The children go on field trips together and participate in other activities where they have the opportunity to bond more, she added.
Cancer kills more children ages 1 to 14 than any other disease in America, according to the American Caner Society. As such, support groups like Candlelighters are sorely needed, said BYU Cancer Research Center Director Dan Simmons.
The BYU Cancer Research Center has more than 27 faculty and students working on various cancer research topics to help understand the disease better.
?We specifically research how cancer works and report our findings to physicians and other researchers,? said Barry Willardson, a BYU professor working in the Cancer Research Center. ?These researchers can in turn develop better cancer treatment methods that can help ease cancer patients.?