Lakeland Childhood Cancer Foundation

11/03/2025

Good morning LCCF supporters! 🎗️Big news! We have our appointment tomorrow with our bank to set up signatories on the account - double always - and here is how we keep our finances simple:

Everything is always in double custody, from the raising of funds at markets and events to the account, no Director or volunteer is to ever have sole custody of LCCF funds.

At markets and events we have one LCCF director and one table volunteer responsible for funds custody.

After events any funds raised are double counted and signed off by each party.

The count sheet is immediately sent to our treasurer after each market count, and all proceeds deposited to LCCF.

Then at meetings we vote on applications and when approved, we purchase the compassion cards that YOU provided. And send them to the recipient.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

All of our overhead is covered by our directors so that 100% of your donation is received by the childhood cancer families that it’s intended for.

And you can choose what type of support you want to give!

As someone that lived through the journey of watching her child endure a year and a half of weekly chemo, in a city three hours away from home, requiring weekly trips that were heartbreaking and difficult, our founder knows exactly what these families need.

Compassion.

Gifts of support from their community.

Words of encouragement and love.

Enrichment.

That’s what helps get us through the thick of it and gives us hope that we’re not alone.

And that’s why LCCF created compassion cards, and why we run our organization without overhead and with total transparency of our processes and practices.

Because the end goal, is to not just to give support to northern Alberta childhood Cancer families, but to provide connection and a stronger sense of community. To let these families know that their community stands with them in their difficult time, offering help, compassion, and encouragement.

If you want to see what it’s all about and help, here’s where you can get a compassion card - https://www.lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca/product/compassion-cards-for-northern-ab-childhood-cancer-families/CA7PY3HULDH46WCTP56BK2KP

We thank you for your continued help in creating a culture of compassion, kindness, and connection for families experiencing the devastating effects of childhood cancer.

~LCCF directors

💛🎗️

10/16/2025

Happy Spooky Season LCCF supporters! 👻🙌🏻🎗️Want to give a compassion card to a childhood Cancer warrior and get an LCCF bracelet made by our directors? Limited supplies, until the end of this month ONLY.

Get yours at:

https://www.lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca/product/compassion-cards-for-northern-ab-childhood-cancer-families/CA7PY3HULDH46WCTP56BK2KP

💛

~LCCF Team

10/15/2025

Want to support a local childhood cancer warrior? Give a compassion card today and make a big difference! Choose what you’d like to gift here 👇🏻💛

https://www.lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca/product/compassion-cards-for-northern-ab-childhood-cancer-families/CA7PY3HULDH46WCTP56BK2KP

10/09/2025

🎗️Who is LCCF?

LCCF is a northern Alberta not for profit, and our mission is to ease the struggles of childhood cancer warriors in northern Alberta, and their families, as they go through treatment.

The recipients can choose from enrichment packages, gas and grocery packages, or other.

We are open to helping in every way we can, as much as we can, because:

Our founder knows first hand the struggles of these families. The nuances that only a Cancer parent could know:

🎗️ there are no local treatments available for childhood cancer, and these children have to travel many hours to receive the life saving medicines and tests that they need... Imagine being nauseous from chemo and having to drive several hours home... imagine the 3 hr drive extending to 5 for bathroom and clean up breaks…

🎗️ this of course leads to increased travel costs, plus loss of income, when at least one parent needs to take time off, go on leave, or reduce their work hours significantly to look after their sick child. This equates to less resources for that child in treatment.

🎗️ these children are VERY underserved, and do not get enough funding, we learned recently that the oncology day ward we visit has had its snack funding cut and mini kitchen removed, a much needed resource when these babies can’t stomach much and only want a Popsicle or toast and can’t eat what their parents packed them, even if it was previously a fave - Fun childhood cancer fact: chemo often changes the way things taste, and not in a good way - Also, childhood cancer only receives 7% of all cancer research dollars, and they don’t have any local treatment Centers or Pediatric oncologists in northern Alberta. They do for adults though...

🎗️ the emotional aspect of caregiving in a childhood Cancer journey would slow anyone down. We as cancer parents are not operating at the same speed that we used to prior to our children’s diagnosis, and that will show in our work, our relationships, every last thing.

🎗️ Enrichment. Is. Everything. - anything that can be done for enrichment should be done. And that’s more than just toys and fun experiences, it includes ensuring that these children don’t have to see the fear in their parents eyes as they try to balance an unmanageable budget due to loss of income and increased costs.

🎗️The directors at LCCF are all volunteers, and personally cover all administrative overhead, ensuring that 100% of your donations go straight to the families that need it.

🎗️How we support these families is a simple process: We raise funds, our treasurer Myrna manages our accounts, during the month families apply using our Google sheets application for $500 gift card grants, Ricki-Lynne prints the applications and brings them to our monthly meetings where we vote on approvals, approved applications will be processed by treasurer Myrna who will withdraw the grants, purchase the gift cards and send the families their gift card packs.

🎗️ important to note: This procedure is based on not for profit best practices, to make it as easy as possible for childhood cancer families to access, and as easy as possible to process. Not only that, our entire organizations structure is based on an IMPROVEMENT to not for profit best practices. We are, and always will be, volunteers that backpack/absorb the administrative costs of our organization personally.

🎗️ because this IS personal to Ricki-Lynne.

🎗️ and we believe that’s how it should be done. That’s the right and only way. And we CAN, so why ever would we not?!

🎗️We’re proud to serve Northern Alberta childhood Cancer families, doing everything we can.

Want to join/support/donate/apply?

Send us a PM. 💛

~LCCF team

Lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca

10/07/2025

Good morning LCCF supporters! Today we’re championing Northern Alberta childhood cancer families with a very special, unique fundraiser! 🎗️👇🏻

Compassion Cards - now you can CHOOSE your gift for a local Northern Alberta childhood Cancer family going though the battle of treatment!

https://www.lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca/product/compassion-cards-for-northern-ab-childhood-cancer-families/CA7PY3HULDH46WCTP56BK2KP

You can choose from helping with:

💛enrichment for the children in treatment

💛gas and medical travel costs

💛groceries and food costs during medical travel

💛other treatment related costs

A little bit about what your donation goes to:

100% of proceeds go to northern childhood cancer families to cover the costs associated with treatment, medical travel, and enrichment for the child’s experience who is in treatment.

*enrichment cards will be the recipients choice of build-a-bear, toys are us, local events/venues/attractions, or kiwicrates

*gas cards will be the recipient families choice of shell/esso/petrocanada

*grocery cards will be the recipient families choice of Sobeys/superstore/Walmart/ or other local grocer*

Important to note: 🎗️💛

🎗️Our foundation has zero administrative overhead.

🎗️Zero. None. And that’s by careful and deliberate design.

The directors donate all costs of our administration personally, and we are all volunteers.

This way, 100% of your donations will always be used to ease the costs of this journey for childhood cancer families.

And we love that when you buy a compassionate card, you know EXACTLY what you’re contributing to.

Thank you so much everyone for supporting LCCF, through childhood cancer awareness month and beyond, and helping us make a big difference 🎗️💛

~LCCF team

10/02/2025

Whaaaaat??! Did we DOUBLE our social media following in ONE MONTH?

Yes, yes we did 🎗️🙌🏻

Thank you all for making September a successful month, and let’s support these warrior babies like this all year round!

Watch for our fundraisers, our events, and our market table 💛

I want to personally thank you all for fire sticking with me through September, childhood cancer awareness month is always heavy for me. These posts bring back so much… And some days I’m not going to lie it’s hard to want to do this job.

It’s YOUR support, these results, that make it all worth it.

If you want to get involved with our team for 2026 send a PM!

And if you want to donate or learn more about LCCF, go to lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca

🎗️💛

~ Ricki-Lynne Jean, Paisleys Mom, LCCF Founder

09/30/2025

🎗️ Childhood Cancer Awareness - Day 30 🎗️

Did you know….

Of the billions in dollars raised for cancer research, one 7% is allocated to Pediatric cancers….

How does that make sense when:

Children’s are known to be more aggressive, and these kids have more complications from cancer treatment side effects than adult patients do.

Children lose an average of 71 years of life to this disease, while adults only lose on average 15 years…

Tell me how it makes sense to leave our children so underserved. This is one of those obvious gaps in care.

These are some of the reasons why we shout from the rooftops all month!!!!

And! If you haven’t already, go to lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca to donate, learn more, and support these warrior babies.

Thank you all for sticking with us through this month, sharing our posts, putting a like on our posts, comments and engaging.

~LCCF Team 💛

09/30/2025

🎗️💛

https://globalnews.ca/news/11455390/edmonton-spidermable-10-years-later/

It's been 10 years since the City of Edmonton came together to give Mable Tooke, known as SpiderMable, a day she would never forget.

09/29/2025

🎗️ Childhood Cancer awareness Day 29 🎗️

Some stats on different Cancer types below👇🏻Our sweet Paisley-Anne’s tumour is the light green category, but no matter what kind, all of them are very scary and life changing for these kids.

They go from playing in parks to pokes and scans and chemo, and 60-90% of them will experience lifelong complications of treatment.

Go to Lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca to learn more.

09/28/2025

🎗️ Childhood Cancer awareness Day 28 🎗️

1500 children in Canada are diagnosed with cancer every year.

That means today 4 sick Canadian kids, will have to accept and start the journey of cancer treatment.

8 terrified parents will have to accept that everything they were doing up until today STOPS. Everything is put on hold.

They will hear about surgery options, preserving their children’s reproductive health, the effects of the surgeries and few chemo options available. Given pamphlets and schedules of treatment.

They watch their child get blood tests, scans , sedated for mri for the first time, going limp in their arms and that’s just a terrifying feeling.

They may be offered cancer medications that are in trial, with no knowledge of whether it will help or not, and they will need to make those decisions quickly.

For our own Miss P at diagnosis, the neurosurgeon was ready to go, and we had a surgery booked for them to go through the left side of her skull to debulk her tumour. Until we learned that this surgery could cause her to lose her eye, and may not be necessary at all. There was a chance it could result in permanent disfigurement with no opportunity of her sight in the left eye ever returning.

Her oncologist was on it, and we were told that chemo first would be able to shrink her tumour. And we were offered a drug in study on top of the regular protocol, as her best option. We had to make a call.

Neurosurgery AND chemo? Or just Chemo? Given the information we had, we chose chemo only, thinking that in the future if the chemo didn’t work that neurosurgery was still an option. That’s what was discussed.

It’s hard to know if that was the right decision even now… looking back… The chemo, in mine and my families opinion… did not work… did not shrink her tumour at all… in fact it’s still growing slowly, at a rate the medical community views as stable… but to me… going from 830mm cubed to 4500mm cubed over six years is anything but stable…

But what do I know??? I’m only her mom. And there’s no going back to get the debulking surgery, no treatment available, just this tumour growing in her sweet head that nobody can do anything about, and they won’t treat, because it’s ‘stable’...

Plus, what we already tried is the most effective protocol, and you can’t use the same chemo drugs twice.

It makes my soul ache.

And it hurts my head that 8 more parents are having to start this heartbreaking journey today.

I pray deeply for them. This journey requires so much mettle and courage.

This path is so much more than helping your child survive treatment.

It’s holding space and making coffee for the dad from the other side of the world that just lost his son after travelling internationally twice for the best treatments to save his beloved child’s life, and listening to his stories.

It’s not being able to show up for social things, and feeling ashamed that your emotional tank is constantly empty.

It’s needing medication to manage the panic and stress and anxiety so you can focus.

It’s finding out that there were other more effective drugs in trial than the one you were offered… by hearing other momma’s talk about 21-40% reduction in their sweet child’s optic nerve tumours and glioma’s while you’re chatting in MRI waiting rooms. Feeling a lump grow in your throat because your child’s is still growing… and they won’t let you switch drugs mid study… and after treatment they won’t allow you to try one of the more effective ones because her brain tumour is ‘stable’ now…

And it changes you. It changes your kid. It changes your whole life and family dynamics.

Nothing is EVER the same again.

As I write this I’m shaking with how helpless and angry I feel.

That’s a feeling never goes away.

So I decided years ago to use it as fuel to help others. That’s how LCCF was created, with the help of those closest to Paisley and I, the ones that see the effects of this journey through us, and have stepped up with me in the biggest way.

If you want to be a hero to Northern Alberta childhood cancer families please go to Lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca and donate today.

💛 Ricki-Lynne Jean, LCCF Founder

09/27/2025

🎗️Childhood cancer awareness month, day 27 🎗️

This one is for the cancer parents.

For the bereaved ones, the sleepless ones, the angry ones, the numb ones, the openly destroyed ones, and the ones who are ‘fine’.

They have these tiles in the oncology Day ward at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, with designs and quotes and perspectives about childhood cancer that only those living it can relate to.

And I’ll never forget these words written by a momma who was able to articulate exactly what I feel every single day:

‘What I wouldn’t give to take you back into my womb and make you whole again’

There has never been something more accurate in describing what being a cancer parent feels like.

We would do ANYTHING, give ANYTHING, to eradicate this awful disease from our children’s bodies.

But our children are not at our mercy. They are at the mercy of the very limited treatment options available.

And if you’ve ever seen a child in treatment you will know that there is nothing merciful about it at all.

To learn more about how you can help go to lakelandchildhoodcancerfoundation.ca

💛