Campbell “Soup” Brandt is a typical seven-year old girl: she enjoys dancing, playing basketball and softball, swimming on the neighborhood swim team, and participating in Girl Scouts. She knows how to pick out the perfect shoes and hat to go with an outfit. She is resilient and positive.
And on August 7, 2012, Campbell was diagnosed with leukemia.
After her diagnosis, Campbell could no longer participate in the activities that she loves. She can’t go to regular school with her friends; instead, she has a home-based and a hospital teacher.
This is where ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation steps in with its mission: to help make life better for children with cancer.
Kim Brandt, Campbell’s mom, notes, “We cannot imagine this journey without the resources and programs [ASK] provides.” When Campbell had to give up the dance lessons, the sports teams, and even hanging out with friends from school, ASK was there with the Halloween party, the Christmas party, and an outing to the zoo.
ASK is there when the family spends long days getting treatment at the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, too. “[Child Life Therapist] Katie Barber plays games when the waits for treatment are long, the pastor visits her when she needs a spiritual lift, and the psychologist is there when she needs an ear. All of these are such a vital part of getting her well, and we feel so blessed that ASK offers all this to her.”
The eighth annual ASK Fun Walk and 5K, presented by Anthem, is coming up on Saturday, April 27, 2013, at Short Pump Town Center. Named Style Weekly’s “Family Favorite Kids’ Run for Charity,” the ASK Walk has raised over $740,000 since it began in 2006. And all that money stays local; ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation is the area’s largest non-profit organization that helps Campbell and other kids with cancer in Central Virginia.
More importantly for the Brandts is that it helps ASK to fund the programs and staff positions that “allow Campbell to still be a kid.”
Registration is still open for the ASK Walk and can be found at www.ASKWalk.org. For more information about ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation, please visit www.ASKCCF.org.
