By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Fundraiser set for local 10-year-old cancer patient
0730cancer-jessica cameron
Jessica Cameron
Sandy Taylor said she’s just taking things one day at a time since her oldest daughter was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in May.“I have my ups and downs,” Taylor said, “When we first found out about this it was a shock. We kind of just have to suck it up for this moment and go day by day.”After 10-year-old Jessica Cameron had surgery to remove the tumor, Taylor said she and her husband, Matt, didn’t like to mention the word “cancer” around their daughter.Taylor said it was four days before she told her.“(Jessica) was like ‘I don’t have cancer.’ And I was like ‘Honey, you do have cancer.’ It’s not something that a mother wants to tell her child,” Taylor said.Taylor said the hardest part was explaining that she was going to lose her long hair.But to Taylor’s shock, Jessica was OK with it.In fact, Taylor said, Jessica is “super, super good.”“It makes it a lot easier for us to deal with ... because she’s doing so well,” Taylor said.The tremendous show of support from family and friends helps, too. She said she’s blessed to have so many people willing to watch her daughters while she attends school and her husband works overtime to make ends meet and pay medical bills.Each of Jessica’s chemotherapy treatments requires her to stay at Scottish Rite of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for a week at a time to receive daily treatments.“She was set to have four treatments and she’s had three, so one more to go,” Taylor said sighing.Beth Blake, whose daughter is a classmate and friend of Jessica’s, has helped to organize several fundraisers to help the Taylor family.“I just couldn’t get her off my mind, I just thought about it all the time,” Blake said.So she and several others started organizing different events including a softball tournament, a carnival and two separate fundraisers at area restaurants.