A Message from Mitchell's Mom:
Our lives were forever changed in 2012, when our three-month-old son, Mitchell, was diagnosed with leukemia and given an intensive two-year chemotherapy treatment plan with only a 40% chance of survival. After a long, highly traumatic battle with cancer, our son died in 2014, just after his second birthday. Our family’s “normal” life became chaos and the shock of th
e diagnosis, treatment and Mitchell’s death impacted each of us differently. Mitchell’s big brother Frank was three at diagnosis and five when his brother died. He expressed his anger and grief through disruptive outbursts and behaviors that were difficult for us, his teachers and peers to understand. We are thankful to have had access to child play therapists and school counselors to help him learn to cope and express feelings in a healthy way. Play is a child’s language and that is why the play therapy method works. Art therapy is a counseling tool that works for all ages. Since 2017, Mitchell’s Fund has provided art, play and talk therapy to sick children and their families at the St. Jude Affiliate Clinic in Charlotte, NC. In 2022, we will open “Mitchell’s House,” a non-profit mental health counseling center that will serve as a safe space for children to share their worries and fears and learn coping mechanisms during sibling medical crisis. We will counsel their parents, too. When diagnosis and treatment of a terminal or life-threatening childhood illness are added to the “normal” routine and stress level for a young family, any prior mental health, domestic or financial issues that the family may have been experiencing are only magnified. This makes it even more important for sick children and their families have access to quality mental health services during and after treatment. Your donations to Mitchell’s Fund will specifically support the program costs associated with providing mental health therapy to sick children and their families in their most desperate time of need. Thank you for supporting Mitchell’s Fund and for keeping Mitchie’s light alive.
