As many of you may already know my 7 year old niece, Lily Rose, (daughter to Lee and Karlie) has been diagnosed with a stage 3 Wilms Kidney tumour. Lily is a free spirited sweet soul who loves hockey, dancing and her little brother and sister.

It started out as what was thought to be a minor hockey injury and led to a doctor’s appointment where the tumour was discovered on January 30th during an exam. Lily was sent for scans in Penticton that same day and, by the next day, she was referred to B.C Children’s hospital. Initially they had planned a surgery to remove the tumour along with her left kidney, but once opened up they determined shrinking the tumour before removing it was the best course of action. They took a biopsy and on Monday, February 12th, she had her diagnosis and they began to put a plan together. On Wednesday, February 14th, she received her first dose of chemotherapy which she has tolerated fairly well, but this is just the beginning of her road to recovery. She will need to receive multiple rounds of chemo, as well as another surgery and radiation.

Faced with any parent’s worst nightmare, Lee, Karlie and the kids have packed up their life and moved to Vancouver for the foreseeable future as the doctors have said they are looking at a minimum 6-8 months. They are currently living at Ronald McDonald House where Lily is able to live with them some of the time. This will be a huge financial burden on their family due to the fact they own their own business and are ineligible to collect EI. My hope is to help alleviate some of the financial stress so that they can keep their focus on Lily and the kids.

If you are looking to help in any way, please consider donating, no monetary amount is too small.

There are no words to describe how grateful Lee, Karlie and the family are for all of the support that has been coming in.

Thank you,

Lily Rose Strong