Three moms from Davis County who have experienced the pain of childhood cancer firsthand are fighting for children across the country suffering from cancer.
Chelsea Carver, 29, Ashley Christensen, 32, and Whitney Holland, 32, started an online business after Cami, Carver’s daughter, was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2010. She was only four years old. After going through this experience Carver, Christensen and Holland decided they wanted to help families going through the same thing.
PS I Adore You is a site featuring different items daily, all at discounted prices. The site also features a different family every month with a child suffering from cancer. A minimum of 10 percent of the profits are donated to the featured family at the end of the month. The rest of the profits go to running the business.
“We needed a way to to bring awareness for childhood cancer,” Holland said. “[The site] is a great way to find good items at a great price and then give them small doses of awareness for childhood cancer. It has worked perfectly.”
The organization raised $30,000 for families last year. They are on track to quadruple that amount this year, according to Holland.
Carver said PS I Adore You was her way of giving back after learning from her experience with her daughter, Cami.
“PS isn’t going to cure cancer,” she said. “But it helps me feel like there is a purpose after we have moved on from the cancer world. Move on without forgetting.”
Carver’s family was surprised in September 2013 when Cami’s leukemia returned after it had gone into remission.
Cami had a bone marrow transplant in November, and recently reached her 100 day mark post-transplant, meaning the risk for complications has significantly decreased. Cami is currently 100 percent cancer-free. Visit her blog to read more about her story.
With kids and jobs, these three busy moms said they have full schedules but they have never been happier.
“Its so rewarding. To deliver a check to a family that is struggling. I’ve never felt so much joy,” Christensen said. “It also makes us appreciate our little ones.We hold them tighter at night because we are so blessed to have a healthy child. We know the ugly world.”
The site features new products everyday and some of the products are even donated to the families to help raise morale.
“Say they buy a little necklace, [and] they’ve got a little kid and they tuck them in at night. [Then] they remember ‘I’m lucky and I’m going to squeeze my kids tighter, I have healthy kids’,” Christensen said.
The site has raised money for 16 different families since its start in Nov. 2012. According to Holland, families are found through a nomination process. Friends and relatives of families suffering from childhood cancer can submit their story through the “contact us” button on the website.
One family helped was the Pace family. Boston Pace is a 2 year-old from Eagle Mountain who was November’s featured “Cancer Cutie” on PS I Adore You. He was diagnosed with Leukemia in October 2013. His treatment will last three and a half years. Amanda Pace, Boston’s mom, said PS I Adore You did amazing things for their family.
“When we found out our sweet boy was sick, it was heartbreaking,” Pace said. “When [my friend] told me PS had chosen Boston as their Cancer Cutie for November, it felt like an incredible blessing when everything else seemed to be falling apart for us.”
Pace said she worried about the financial burden that comes from cancer, even though she wanted it to be the last thing on her mind. Having the financial burden eased so the family could completely focus on Boston’s care was the greatest gift they received, she said.
Holland is quick to point out that every donation helps.
“If everyone donated a dollar, or gave up a lunch date with a friend and spent it on this donation, we could do so much for these families,” Holland said. “It seems so little, but in the long run it could make a huge impact on the financial burdens that these families carry.”
Donations can exceed ten percent of PS profits because vendors can also choose to donate to the families and customers can click the donate button to make a donation without purchasing anything.
“It’s a one-stop shop. You can come shop for a good item at a great price, and give back at the same time. So it’s a great way to feel good about your shopping,” Holland said.
