PBT Kicks Off Fundraiser To Send Kids, Who Survived Cancer, to Camp Esperanza

 

Fundraiser Dates-  10-12-2023 through 10-31-2023:

The 2023 Annual Meeting for the Professional Bondsmen of Texas took place last week from October 12-13 in San Antonio, Texas.  This year's activities included the kickoff of a fund raiser for Camp Esperanza which is a camp for kids with cancer.

Over the course of 2 days from October 12-13, 2023, bondsmen attending the annual meeting contributed over $20,000.00 for this very worthy cause.  This allows 40 children to attend Camp Esperanza this year.  

Now you have the opportunity to participate as well.  The fundraiser will continue for the next two weeks until the end of October.  There are numerous ways that you can contribute.

• If you would like to donate online CLICK HERE

• If you would like to contribute with a check:

            The Bridwell Foundation/Camp Esperanza

            c/o The Good Law Firm

            5604 Old Bullard Road, Suite 102

            Tyler, Texas 75703

About Camp Esperanza:

Camp Esperanza offers kids with cancer a week of camp to play and to explore. Camp allows them the opportunity to discover their new selves with cancer and to realize just how normal they still can be. Campers share stories with others on the journey of fighting cancer while building friendships and encouraging one another in the midst of joy and laughter.

Camp Esperanza is a unique summer camp experience for children between the ages of 6 and 15 who currently have cancer or have been treated for cancer at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. “Esperanza” – the Spanish word for “Hope” – is what Camp Esperanza is all about. Camp John Marc is a special needs facility where the camp meets and plays for one full week every July.

The purpose of the Bridewell Foundation is to raise money to send Camp Esperanza each year. The cost of providing a one week camping experience for each camper is $500 which is free of charge for all campers. We send 140 campers each summer to camp. This means they must raise $70,000.00 to operate camp each year. The Foundation is a tax-exempt Section 501 (c) (3), non-profit organization.

One Father's Perspective-

Our daughter underwent a bone marrow transplant when she was five years old.  There are things about that journey that we still do not discuss.  My daughter and my wife moved into Children's medical facility on December 6th and did not return home until 3-4 months later.  The staff at Children's raised the possibility of our daughter going to camp early in the bone marrow process.  Right away our daughter told us she wanted to go to camp.  As our daughter got more and more sick from the chemo, the idea of going to this camp signified "hope."  It was almost the promise that she would be okay and she would get through this very stressful and awful process.  I kept a blog/journal during our experience and I will share just a few of our stories over the next few weeks.

Story Number 1- December 6th- Move-In Day

"We left this morning at around 8:00 a.m. to head to Dallas.  My wife and I took separate cars.  Also, I took our other daughter to school and my wife and our five year old went ahead and left.  I told my wife not to worry about me, I would catch up.  I was on a conference call during the drive and my wife called me but I could not switch over.  I called her back and she asked me if I knew that I had flown by them on the interstate?  I started laughing saying that I thought I was still behind her and I was trying to catch up quickly.  My wife proceeded to tell me that she looked in her rearview mirror and saw this white blur driving rapidly and her first thought was that she hoped that was not her husband.  I told her that I was certain that it was not me and that I must still be somewhere between her and our home town.  (I was laughing at this point).  My wife said that she was certain that there were not two white car’s with stickers for our oldest daughter's school and driven by a guy with dark hair.  I assured her that there were two such cars in our town and that I had just seen the other one earlier (and  then I slowed down).  (I may have been just a little stressed already).

We met at North Park Mall for story time with Santa because our little girl wanted to make sure Santa knew she would not be home this year.  We got to see Santa for a little one on one time.  Our five year old was very cute with Santa.  She told Santa that she wanted a doll for Christmas.  She also told him that she would not be home, but would be in the hospital in Dallas.  

When we went to order pictures of our little girl with Santa, the cashier asked us if we knew the photographer and we responded no.  He excused himself and when he returned he told us that the photographer was giving us complimentary pictures of whatever we wanted.  It was very nice.  

We ate lunch and then went to see some train exhibit our little one wanted to see.  Our daughter was in a very good mood all day. She was very excited about going to the hospital. We were laughing and joking all day.

We got to the hospital at around 2:00 p.m.  Going from the mall to the hospital once again I told my wife that I would catch up with her and yes once again I blew by her without even realizing it.  This time I was on the phone with her and she even said “Is that you blowing by me?”  Once again I told her it must be that other joker from our home town and he must be following us.  Once again I slowed down.

We got checked in to the hospital and learned that our little one would not be allowed to leave her room for the next few days until they made sure she did not bring any infection on to the transplant floor.  Thereafter, she could leave the room and go to the game room, but she could not leave the unit.  They brought us a Wii and our daughter was very happy for a long time until it came time to start the IV.  They tried to put the IV in her right arm, in her one good vein, but they could not get it started so they had to put it in her left hand.  Our daughter was so mad at the nurse when she realized what the nurse had done.  She asked the nurse, “Why did you put it in my hand?”  She brooded for a few minutes as we were talking to the nurse and then out of the blue she added, “You know I am left handed.”  She was mad because it was going to interfere with her Wii playing.  The nurse was very apologetic, but we all could not keep from laughing about it.  It hit me for the first time that kids just want to be kids.

Our daughter's platelets came back at 7,000. She needed to be over 100,000 for surgery (normal is around 400,000 parts per whatever).  She would receive a transfusion in the middle of the night and surgery was scheduled for the next day at 9:00 a.m. to insert a central line to make giving our little one her medications and chemo easier over the extended time we would be in the facility.

Our daughter was very very cute that day.  She was very talkative interacting with all the staff.  She was stealing hearts right and left.  At one point, I was cuddling with her and I asked her if she knew that she had stolen my heart?  

She asked me if I wanted her to give it back and I said she could keep it a little longer."

(To be continued . . .)

Fundraiser Status-

To see how we are doing, we have created a Dashboard to check on the status of all the different ways to give.

To see the PBT Dashboard of Contributions raised since October 11, 2023- CLICK HERE.

Please give to this very worthy cause.