It’s difficult for any family that has a child diagnosed with cancer. Joey’s Children’s Apparel, along with the Solonenko family and Greg and Leone Ottenbreit gathered together Thursday evening to celebrate an initiative to make cancer treatment easier for children.
Joelle Bohn, owner of Joey’s, organizes the annual Kid’s Expo in Yorkton, which raises money for a different charity focusing on children each year. The final total of $6,000 that was raised from the expo was put towards Close Cuts for Cancer and its local initiatives program. The money was specifically used as part of the pediatric oncology program.
“We like to have the money stay to assist people locally who are affected by cancer,” said Leone Ottenbreit.
Yorkton does not have a large patient roster for pediatric oncology, so this initiative needed to pair up with the two pediatric clinics in the province.
The Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina and the Saskatoon Cancer Centre will now be providing children with a “ComfyCozy’s” sweater at the beginning of their treatment and a completion trophy at the end of their treatment period.
The sweaters come from Phoenix, Arizona and are designed by a mother who lost her daughter to cancer. The ComfyCozy’s feature a large zippered panel on the top of the sweater to allow access to the skin.
This panel allows the child to remain comfortable in the warm sweater, instead of wearing cold and open hospital gowns.
Six year old Lyric Solonenko was the first to try out the sweater and receive one of the trophies to celebrate the end of his treatment. Diagnosed with a tumor on his Kidney at the age of 2 ½, Lyric spent the following months receiving radiation and chemotherapy.
