Second Act: ‘We Stick With Them For As Long As Their Journeys Take Them’

By Judy Pearson
“We’re going to make a difference!”
These are powerful words to come from a high school senior, but they’re understandable given the scene Jenny Luttrell had just witnessed. Her younger brother, Jeff, was undergoing a bone marrow transplant after having survived his fourth diagnosis with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The Luttell family had endured a great deal, but always with insurance coverage and the necessary funds to travel for treatment.
The family in the room next to the Luttrells at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson was not that lucky. Their daughter was being treated, too, but they didn’t have enough money for gas to get home.
“We collected money from all the families in the waiting room to help them,” said Patti Luttrell, Jeff and Jenny’s mom. “That was the day the Children’s Cancer Network was born.”
The organization began as Jenny’s high school philanthropy project, raising seed money with a garage sale. Today, it has an operating budget of $900,000, with Patti at the helm as co-founder and executive director. Fulfilling their mission of giving hope to children and families dealing with childhood cancer takes every penny.
Broadly, their work includes providing financial assistance, creating awareness of childhood cancer issues, and offering education about healthy lifestyles. And after a decade, their work is still focused on the families.
“We work with them from moment of diagnosis through survivorship,” Patti says. “We stick with them for as long as their journeys take them. They can come in and out of our support services.”
The Children’s Cancer Network provides families with admission bags, filled with resources, necessities and comfort items they’ll need for the long treatment road ahead. They learn something new from every family they meet.
“One little boy asked for a bed so that when he got home from the hospital he wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor,” Patti remembers. “We discovered not having enough beds in a home wasn’t that uncommon. So we began providing them along with bed linens.”
In addition, the Children’s Cancer Network hits all the important events in a child’s life. Their adopt-a-family programs help families with back-to-school and holiday needs. “The hospital social workers recommend families and we shops for them,” Patti says. “Toys, clothing, household needs, we help with all of it. And we give them gas and food gift cards to cover every day expenses. We work with all hospitals throughout the state.”
At the organization’s resource center in Chandler, families can pick up information on local and national organizations whose support is more specific to their child’s cancer type. The center hosts some of the “It’s All About You” health and wellness programs, hands-on learning opportunities to build self esteem and healthy relationships. These programs are also sometimes held at the hospitals, but all provide a most important element in a family’s cancer journey: the ability to connect with other families in same situation.
One of the programs Patti Luttrell is most proud of is HOPE – Honoring Our Peers Everyday. Working in the schools with students from kindergarten through high school, HOPE helps them understand the cancer journey their fellow students are traveling. They learn about treatment, that side effects are temporary, and that cancer is not contagious.
“An elementary school boy was getting ready to go back to school,” Patti relates. “He was nervous about it: he had no hair, he was tired, he had missed a lot of school. Our team happened to be presenting the HOPE program at his school. The kids were so receptive. One 4th grader said to a team member, ‘I get it now. I want to help him.’
“The school then wrote notes to their classmate, welcoming him back. That was the tipping point. The young survivor told his mom he was ready. Stories like that make all the hard work worth it!”
Jeff is now 29. A graphic designer and golf novice, he just received a clear PET scan after having battled a squamous cell cancer on his tongue for five years. Jenny is 31 and lives in San Diego. Because of them, Patti continues to grow Children’s Cancer Network. The future holds more support programs, more survivorship conferences, more outreach into the schools.
And more HOPE for children and their families facing their long and lonely cancer journeys.