Your generosity can help keep families like Riley’s together this Christmas

When he was just 3 years old, Riley was diagnosed with blood cancer, and his family’s world was turned upside down. Living regionally meant travelling long distances for treatment, while mounting costs added even more pressure. Months of treatment pushed the family to their limits – and they needed help to stay together through it all.

In 2024, Riley and his family moved to a small town in regional WA, nearly 250km from Perth.

Riley, who already had dreams of being a builder and farmer just like his dad and pop, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a type of blood cancer.

“We had noticed a lump on his neck, which was a bit odd,” Riley’s mum Elysia recalls. After further tests, they received the news no parent wants to hear.

“I remember the doctor walking in the room and saying, ‘he’s got blast cells, which are an indication of leukaemia. We’re going to have to transfer you to the Perth Children’s Hospital by ambulance.’ It was a whirlwind few days, that’s for sure,” Elysia says.

I was very sad but I was also fearful [about what this meant] for his life, and for our lives. It was the fear of the unknown for us. I just started bawling my eyes out, and he looked at me, and I remember him coming over and giving me a cuddle and saying, ‘no, it’s okay, Mum’. I was like, ‘it’s not really.’

Every day, 55 Australians like Riley are told the devastating news that they have blood cancer. While blood cancer  is the third most common cancer overall in Australia, it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer amongst children.

Unfortunately, their regional location made things even more difficult for the family.

With no treatment options near their hometown, they were told they needed to relocate to Perth for the treatment Riley needed to survive.

Having to move out of their home put enormous pressure on the family. To be with Riley, his mum Elysia gave up the job she had been about to return to. Dad Paul, a carpenter, cancelled every job he had booked and became the one at home with Riley’s little sister Sadie.

Two incomes stopped immediately, but the bills did not.

There was accommodation to find near the hospital. Petrol for the long drives. And the mortgage repayments on their home, now sitting empty three hours away, were still due every month.

“We drained our savings,” Elysia says. “Because we were paying for a house we weren’t living in.”

Little by little, the weight grew heavier: the fear for Riley’s health, the distance from home, and the question of how long the money would last.

A recent Leukaemia Foundation survey found that the average annual out-of-pocket cost for Australians with blood cancer is $3,910, with 1 in 8 respondents reporting that they had missed, delayed or cancelled care because of financial pressures. Some people pay $20,000 out of pocket annually.

Thanks to generous supporters like you, Riley’s family was offered a place to stay at the Stirling Cross Blood Cancer Centre in Perth, one of 10 Leukaemia Foundation accommodation centres around Australia. Just minutes from Riley’s treating hospital, it became their home away from home for the next 15 months.

At a time when they needed it most, it eased the pressure of being far from home and helped ensure they never had to choose between giving Riley the care he needed and draining their life savings.

It ended up feeling like a home to us, and the kids loved it so much. I can’t even explain how grateful we were to have somewhere like that to stay, and having the Leukaemia Foundation office down below and having someone to chat to. Just having them there to be supportive if we ever needed as well was really nice.

The Leukaemia Foundation’s free or subsidised accommodation helps hundreds of regional and rural families each year, relieving the financial burden of attending medical appointments far from home.

When Christmas was approaching in 2024, Riley was still in the thick of treatment, and couldn’t go home. Instead, his family found a way to celebrate Christmas together in their Leukaemia Foundation accommodation.

It wasn’t the celebration they had planned. But they were together, and for a family facing blood cancer, that is a powerful gift.

As Elysia recalls, they made the most out of what they had and where they were.

“In the office, we wrote our name on a bauble, and the kids got to come down and help decorate the tree,” she says.

“We ended up doing morning tea [at the accommodation centre] and all the residents that were living there at the time bought Christmas presents for the kids that were living there.”

Those little thoughtful things like that just made everything feel more welcoming.

After a gruelling 15 months of treatment 3 hours away from home, this November, Riley will be ringing the bell to signal the end of his treatment.

This Christmas, many more families like Riley’s will be forced to spend Christmas in hospital and away from home as they access critical blood cancer treatment.

Your generosity during the Leukaemia Foundation’s Christmas Appeal can help us reach our goal of raising $262,133, providing families facing blood cancer with immediate relief from the financial burden of treatment.

Every dollar donated will go towards supporting people with blood cancer with accommodation close to treating hospitals, transport, and financial assistance and supportive care.