Helping the Waite Family

We have all been there. A time in our lives when we feel completely overwhelmed and afraid as a result of catastrophic events that we cannot control. For many of us, these times pass and we are able to get back to our regular daily lives, filled with healthy relationships, fun and laughter.

I would like to introduce you to the Waite Family. Steve, Joanne, Alyssa, Andrea and Derek. Their catastrophe has just occurred.

Derek is 7 and the member of the Waite Family that I know the best. He and my son Joshua met last year in kindergarten and have developed a close bond. Derek has become a regular fixture in our home over the last year and a half. He has these beautiful brown eyes that melt your soul and pretty much guarantee that in a few years there will be hundreds of teenage girls crying over a broken heart. Watching Derek with his Mom brings tears to my eyes, she is the love of his life and he still refuses to sleep over at my home because he cannot bare to be without her.

A year and a half ago Derek' s father, Steve, was diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer. It has been a tough road for him and his family since the diagnosis. I cannot even begin to imagine what this journey has been like for them. As an outsider looking in, it looks like a terrible nightmare with a sad devastating outcome. There is nothing that can be said or done that could change the fact that Derek and his two sisters had to watch their Dad pass away.

How do you tell these young children that their father has died? How do you make this better? How do you protect them from the hurt and sadness they will have to face?

I don't know the answers but what I know for sure is that these children need their mother more than ever right now and their mother needs to spend time with them over the months ahead. These children need to be able to crawl up on her lap and cry. They need to be held for hours and told they are loved. They need to know she is walking alongside them as they grieve. They need to learn how to be a family without their Dad.

We all know that finances are one of life's major stresses. Tragically, Derek's Mom, Joanne will need to go back to work, as a matter of the highest priority, in an effort to 'make ends meet' without her husband. She will need to pay for the funeral costs, the daily living expenses and eventually the kids' futures. Every day, I have been asking myself how is she possibly going to be able to manage this without losing herself and when will she ever find the time to privately grieve the loss of her beloved husband?

Money is such an easy thing to give. It takes seconds and can change lives. I would like to invite you and everyone you know to donate to the Waite Family. We have the power to change the lives of these three children and buy them some time with the Mom that they are going to need so much. The money raised will allow Joanne to spend precious time with her children over the months ahead, as they grieve their loss.

I ask you from the bottom of my heart to work with me to raise as much money as we can for this family. They have endured so much in the last few months and we have the power to give them the gift of being together.

Thank you for your donation and love.

With Love

Joshua's Mom

If you wish to make an off line donation please contact me at [email redacted] and I can provide you with the direct banking information.