Team Chill Will: Meet Will and His Family

Team Chill Will raised more than $25,000 for Campfire Circle at the Sporting Life 10K this year. The family’s connection to Campfire Circle during some of the hardest moments of their lives is one of the big reasons they decided to fundraise to support the organization. Here is their story.

Lisa had no idea anything was wrong with her son Will when he was born in June 2022. She’d had an uncomplicated pregnancy, so when Will was born with a strange rash, it came as a surprise to her and her partner Geoff. Will was admitted to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto for testing. At just seven days old, Will was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The first seven months of Will’s life were spent as an inpatient at SickKids where he underwent five rounds of chemotherapy, 34 blood and platelet transfusions and countless other tests and procedures.

For Lisa and Geoff, this was not how they had planned to spend early parenthood. “We went from expecting to do all the normal ‘new parent’ things to slowly realizing that we are going to spend the next six months or longer living in the hospital full-time,” says Geoff.

While the family was at SickKids, the Campfire Circle In-Hospital Specialists would come and spend time with Will, doing things like playing the ukelele and singing songs to him. They would also give Lisa and Geoff much-needed breaks to go get a coffee or spend time outside of the hospital room. Will developed a special relationship with the In-Hospital Program Specialists and one of them made him a poster to celebrate his last day of chemo. Now, when the family has to go back to the hospital for follow-ups, they recognize everyone and almost look forward to going back, because it’s like they have formed a family there.

“It’s the little things that mean a lot when you’re in that situation,” says Geoff. “It’s a layer of social support that otherwise we wouldn’t get in a hospital.”

Will completed his in-hospital treatment on January 9, 2023. Only a few weeks after his final discharge, the family went to a weekend at camp at Campfire Circle in Muskoka. It was the first time the family had been able to spend any quality time together outside of the hospital. Knowing they had medical support for Will, who still had a central line and lots of medications to coordinate, made all the difference.

“When we heard about family camp, we immediately registered. It gave us a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel to work towards,” says Lisa. “On our darker days, our nurse practitioner, who knew that we were registered for camp, would remind us, ‘You are going to make it to camp’ and it gave us that little bit of hope that we needed.”

That weekend in Muskoka, the family was finally able to relax together. It was a great opportunity to build relationships with other families who had gone through the same experience.

 “We have more support than anybody could hope for in this situation, but nobody really understands it like other parents who have been through it,” says Lisa.

The weekend was also just fun, and Lisa and Geoff were able to enjoy the experience without constantly thinking about cancer. “It’s just an incredible place,” says Geoff. “The fact that there are kids in active treatment who can go to summer camp…I would never have thought that was possible. I think it gives kids an opportunity they otherwise wouldn’t have.”

Lisa and Geoff are excited to build a community for Will in the future. “There’s a huge benefit to knowing that Will can be a part of the Campfire Circle community for the rest of his life,” says Lisa.