How global support helped a family through childhood cancer

When she was just 7 years old, Hailey Rodenhiser’s cancer diagnosis shocked the whole family.

“It was very out of the blue. It didn’t seem like a possibility at the time because it usually occurs in younger kids, and I’d been so healthy before I got sick,” Hailey remembers.

She was tired all the time and eventually had to go to the hospital with a fever. After her fever broke and she felt like she was getting better, her parents took Hailey to a pediatric doctor who noticed the signs of cancer: the whites of her eyes were yellow, she was dehydrated and her neck glands hurt. An ambulance took her to a hospital in Halifax where she had a bone marrow biopsy.

On December 9, 2014, the doctors diagnosed Hailey with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She started treatment right away.

Hailey went through two and a half years of treatment. She experienced rare side effects from the medications, including steroid-induced diabetes and liver complications. She struggled with feeling different than other kids her age and became depressed.

Juanita wanted to do something to cheer her daughter up. In 2016, she made a post on Facebook asking their family and friends to send Hailey Christmas cards, knowing that she loved getting mail. The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) shared the post, and the word spread quickly. Soon, even the news was covering the story.

After the news segment, Juanita’s request reached people all over the world. Thousands of cards arrived at their home. Hailey received so many that she was still opening Christmas cards in late March the next year.

“She got postcards from Tanzania, handmade cards from school children, and cards all the way from Japan and Antarctica. We still have them all,” says Jaunita.

In total, Hailey received over 50,000 Christmas cards from all over the world, including cards from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former premier of Nova Scotia Stephen McNeil.

“During the holidays, I was having a really hard time with everything going on and the cards really cheered me up,” Hailey explains. “They showed me how much people care.”

Today, Hailey and her family have been donating the cards to seniors homes, daycares and elementary schools so they can be used again.

“We’ve been hesitant to get rid of any of them because they remind us of the good in the world. We hope that people can recycle the cards and make more beautiful things with them,” Hailey says.

People helped us, so we helped other people too. It’s paying it forward.

As a family, they decided to give back support and help others who are going through what they did. In 2015, they lit the candles at Relay For Life and walked with the community to support people affected by cancer. The next year, Hailey became a Relay For Life ambassador.

It’s been seven years since Hailey finished treatment, and her family is grateful for all the support they found during her treatment.

“We had external support from extended family, neighbours, her brothers, and the community,” Leonard says. “But I think a lot of it was also just us three supporting each other. The silver lining is we are now very tight knit.”

I want to give back to the people that helped Hailey smile. Our neighbours, our friends, strangers. Those little things. Because they made her smile, it encourages me to help others.