A cancer diagnosis has a life-changing impact on a child and their family. Navigating complex healthcare systems and stressful administrative processes create overwhelming emotional tolls.
Recognising these challenges, LOVE, NILS hopes to help affected families overcome obstacles during the cancer treatment process. The non-profit organisation guides children with cancer and their caregivers, seeking to form a healing community of support.
A Community of Hope
In 2012, Lesli Berggren’s 13-year-old son, Nils, was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma cancer. He passed away due to complications arising from a stem cell transplant. While navigating complicated medical systems, Lesli realised the importance of having adequate healthcare guidance, and the benefits of emotional, social, and community support.
She then founded LOVE, NILS, to reach out to families fighting cancer to share knowledge and resources through her own valuable first-hand experiences and provide a community centred upon resilience and hope.
Indeed, in the isolating battle against cancer, a community can provide families with necessary support to cope with difficult challenges, and to celebrate the happy moments together. The social connections that come with community relationships give rewarding perspectives that help strengthen families through the cancer journey.
LOVE, NILS’ Care Coordinators
The primary cause of LOVE, NILS lies in the crucial work of their Care Coordinators. They work with medical and therapeutic professionals to ensure a holistic range of care for children with cancer while supporting their caregivers. Most practically, Care Coordinators journey with caregivers through the healthcare system, helping them understand the diagnosis, treatment, and whatever concerns that may arise. They also provide dedicated emotional and community support by facilitating each step of the recovery process.
“Every component is precious and every family is special,” explains Sister Laura Tan, a LOVE, NILS Care Coordinator and lead nurse at the National University Hospital (NUH).
The role of a Care Coordinator is a constant process of learning, sharpening awareness to details, and catering support to the unique difficulties that each family faces. She emphasises that having a community brings security and comfort for these children, and clarity for their caregivers.
In a system overwhelmed with information, Care Coordinators are connecting bridges between families and various healthcare providers—doctors, nurses, therapists, and medical social workers. This includes introducing resources, administrative services, and financial avenues, as well as arranging fun-filled activities for the children, with their welfare as the priority. Care Coordinators work closely with professionals to provide necessary guidance and coordinated care, harmonised to best provide for each family’s individual circumstances.
Caring Beyond Healthcare
Currently, LOVE, NILS runs free programmes with KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and NUH, including Education Support, Open Art Sessions, Camps, monthly toy donations, and home-delivered art kits. All these programmes connect children battling cancer with one another, and provide care for them beyond healthcare needs.
One beneficiary of LOVE, NILS’ programmes is then two-year-old Ezri, who was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2016. Her mother, Amy, recalls the struggle their family faced as cancer turned their lives upside down. She quit her job to take care of Ezri full-time, and had to send Ezri’s twin sister to stay with her grandmother during chemotherapy treatment and hospitalisation periods. Needless to say, it was a testing ordeal to trudge through.
Thankfully, help and support soon came. Ezri and her family were introduced to the LOVE, NILS community at a Toy Donation event at the hospital. From there, Ezri participated in other LOVE, NILS programmes which brought her moments of relief and joy. “A child’s smile might be something a typical parent sees every day, but the smiles from the kids who battle cancer are so precious. That is the love and joy brought by LOVE, NILS to Ezri and many other kids who battle cancer,” Amy shares.
LOVE, NILS also partners with local and international schools in Singapore for outreach and fundraising activities, notably, through the organisation’s Pen Pal Programme and T-shirt Masterpiece Programme. School partnerships raise awareness of the challenges these children and their families face, and it has inspired young volunteers to come forward and advocate for the cause.
Most importantly, it connects children undergoing treatment with their peers studying in traditional classroom environments. This creates encouraging relationships with the goal of uplifting affected individuals with hope.
Through its Care Coordinators and programmes, LOVE, NILS encapsulates the importance of having a community and social support system. With a 3-year roadmap laid out, Lesli hopes to continue bringing in more staff, volunteers, funding, and fresh ideas to support their cause.
Ultimately, LOVE, NILS hopes to bridge the disconnect and provide a community for children with cancer and their caregivers so that they may reap the healing potentials of empowering relationships as they navigate and journey through cancer.
LOVE, NILS welcomes and calls upon individuals who share this same belief. Volunteer your time or make a donation to support their cause. Give the gift of hope to children with cancer by donating to their cause. All donations made through their giving.sg campaign will be matched dollar for dollar by the Tote Board and other government agencies, and will enable LOVE, NILS to continue implementing programs, which engage paediatric cancer patients and their families, reduce isolation, and provide joy and hope during the trauma of cancer treatment.
Reflection Questions
- What was your takeaway from this article?
- How significant is offering hope in your community?
- Are resources coordinated in your community? Is there a go-to place or person to get all the information needed? If not, how can you facilitate that?
