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Amanda Appeal
The moment you find out your child has cancer is the moment everything changes.
Not just for you. Not just for your child. But for your entire family. For the Gouvea Horan
family that terrible moment came on December 15th, 2014.
The News
Little Amanda Gouvea Horan was just two-and-a-half years old when doctors broke the
news to her devastated parents, Paula and Ned. Amanda had Leukaemia.
It was like the floor went from under me. In an instant our whole world came crashing down. Amanda has Down Syndrome but that’s not a problem, it’s a blessing. Leukaemia, that’s a problem. So as soon as I heard I said ‘Let’s get started, let’s fight and kill this Leukaemia, I want my child alive.
Looking Forward
But as any family who has been through it knows, cancer doesn’t just affect the person who is sick. It affects the whole family and the Gouvea Horan’s were no exception. Leukaemia was physically tearing their family apart. Paula spent six days a week in the hospital with Amanda. At home Ned was taking care of their other two little girls, Luana (8) and Giovanna (7).
I want to give:
The Magic
Amanda’s big Barretstown moment came on the last day of camp as everyone sat in the theatre waiting for the show to start. But Amanda had other ideas. This little girl walked right up onto the stage, smiled out at the audience and started waving. And of course everyone started to wave back.
You see when a child like Amanda is battling a serious illness their childhood takes a backseat. The fight to survive can involve long hospital stays and aggressive treatments. They simply have no energy left to play or laugh or enjoy being a child.
A Lasting Impact
That’s what the medically endorsed Therapeutic Recreation programmes here at Barretstown are all about. Teaching children who are battling serious illnesses like cancer to have fun again. And through that fun we can begin to repair the damage that the illness has done.
Paula Gouvea Horan
Mother
I think it kind of pulled us back together, Barretstown allowed us to have fun again, experience joy and to be together as a family in a way that hadn’t been possible since Amanda got sick.
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