BEDFORD – Cancer affects many different families around the world every day, with an approximate 15,700 children per year being affected by a form of the disease.
Archer Foist, a 15-month-old, has had a relapse in his cancer battle after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia at 10 months old, and the spaghetti dinner was used to help raise funds for the family during this difficult time.
Phil O’Toole, a friend of the family and member of Dive Christian Church in Bedford, decided to host the dinner to help the family with travel costs, a factor not many people think about when it comes to cancer treatments.
“Most people don’t realize that most of the cost that needs to be covered is for traveling and lodging purposes,” said O’Toole With Archer, he is in Ohio, and his parents travel to be with him at the hospital. Yeah, their insurance is covering a lot of the treatments and is lessening the burden, but rising fuel costs and constant travel can bare a heavy toll on anyone.”
The money raised from the night will go towards helping the family cover these additional costs while having the opportunity to focus on the treatments.
“We are going to give them every penny raised from the dinner and the silent auction to the Foist family so they won’t have to worry about how they can take care of it all,” O’Toole said. “This will allow them to focus on the important things, and leave the lesser worries in the background.”
There are opportunities to help Archer and his family in his battle, by visiting the Archer’s Journey Facebook page, by donating to a Go Fund Me account for Archer, and the Dumon McCain 9th Annual Memorial Ride with all money raised going to help the family further.
