A Friend in Need

When the corona crisis struck a few years ago, we naturally panicked about how it would affect our income (as many probably did). Maris had just sold her half of her chocolate shop to her business partner in order to venture out on her own and work more creatively from our home. We set up shop in our home after much renovating and in comes covid.

In my work with mostly elderly and high-risk people, I was scared of possibly bringing any sickness into their homes. We isolated and did our best to follow the set rules and common-sense behavior in a pandemic. And ultimately, it paid off. M's business survived even though chocolate is a luxury item and I was able to continue my work.

Also during this period we had begun our adventure in becoming foster parents. Endless meetings, trainings, etc. all via Zoom due to the fact that we were in a pandemic. Finally we were approved and the waiting began. Still busy with a home renovation that we chose to tackle on our own, we now had to factor in a child/ren into our equation.

Fast forward to September of last year when little Miss V came into our hearts and home. We were ecstatic! Her biological mother was pregnant again and the chance was great that the second baby would come to us as well. Miss J was born in February of this year (2022) and has been with us since the day after her birth.

What a whirlwind fostering has been with many unforeseen twists and turns. But the biggest turn was yet to come. The other big C. As we were having a relaxing day at home we discovered its presence. It was one week after V turned two. We decided to get out the projector and camp out in our bedroom for a movie. Paddington Bear it was! We were all lying on the bed and V was bouncing about as usual. She bumped the cables which in turn moved the projector. M reached over her head to straighten then laid her hand on her chest as it was simply a comfortable position. She had a look of concern on her face and asked me to "feel this" .

An appointment was made the next morning for the general practitioner and two days later M was in with a specialist. Within one and a half hours at that appointment we knew what we were dealing with. Here we are almost at the end of phase one of her first chemo rounds and realizing that we need way more help than we first dared to admit.

A small business owner doesn't have much assistance available when they fall sick, unfortunately. If you don't work, you don't get paid. My work, on the other hand, is for a "big boss" and I have the luxury of taking the time to be with M. The only negative is that my salary will only be at 70% paid during the time I take to be with her. With two cuts and two children, that's a hard blow.

We are both very stubborn and are ones that don't often look outside of ourselves for help. But here we are. We are vulnerable. It feels like defeat. 

Chemo continues through December and after a month of rest M will have surgery to remove the (hopefully) shrunken mass. We'd be more than grateful for whatever assistance you all could provide and as a thank you we'd love to send you chocolates for your kindness in the coming year as M's health improves.

Please feel free to share our story even if you can't donate. Help comes in many forms and that is one easy way to help us. There's a lot of bad things in this world but there are a lot of good people. And we are counting on that fact.

With grateful hearts,

Tara, Maris, V & J