About

Our family has seen our share of oncologists, hospitals, chemo treatment chairs and operating rooms and we know first-hand how difficult it is to carry on while in the middle of the whirlwind that is a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

When our youngest was diagnosed with Stage 4 Alveolar  Rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) in 2013, she was an otherwise healthy, happy, very active 14-year-old with an older sister and brother and lots of friends.

Our house was full of lively conversation, family meals, piles of friends’ shoes at the front door, and lots and lots of laughter.

As a parent of a child battling cancer, you are exhausted. You are stressed about EVERYTHING. All normality goes out the window when cancer enters your house. Suddenly your routines (getting kids up, fed, ready for school, driven to all of their extracurricular activities, work, sleepovers,
dinner, laundry, yard work, house cleaning, etc.) take a back seat to doctor appointments, medicine schedules, hospital stays, etc.

You find yourself pulled in a million directions, trying to do everything you can for your sick child, while also trying to do everything you can to maintain some semblance of normalcy for your healthy children. And one of the biggest stresses for most families is money.

Forget about hospital bills for a minute. When we were making the 156-mile trek to UNC Children’s Hospital in Chapel Hill, NC, expenses that you don’t think about added up so quickly: Gas, hospital parking, hospital cafeteria food, Grub Hub orders, hotel stays, etc... even the smallest added expenses really start to cause stress. We were fortunate enough to have some incredibly generous people in our lives that stepped up to offer things like pre-paid gas cards, gift cards as well as cash donations. When your daughter can’t keep anything down but she’s hungry and you’re trying the 4 th meal option of the hour and she wants to stop and get an icee at a gas station off the freeway that she probably won’t drink, you cannot say no. And when you’re in between rounds of chemo and your older daughter has a cheer competition with all of those added expenses, you need to show up for her.

This is where the Greer Foundation comes in. We can’t cure cancer and we cannot pay all of your bills. But we CAN help. And as we know first-hand, every little bit helps.