Clare's Chemo Story

Two days before her second birthday, in September 2008, our daughter Clare was diagnosed with Cancer. She has retinoblastoma, a rare cancer that affects the eyes of young children. The hospital has become our second home since Clare's diagnosis. Her favorite floor at the I.W.K, in Halifax, NS is the Second floor in the Atrium. Here she can be a child and watch fish in their tanks, have a snack, socialize and we get to do things we would normally do before more tests and chemo. Tim Hortons is on the second floor and even just seeing it, waiting in line and getting our tea makes us feel 'normal' again. When it is time to spend the day at the hospital, we frequent Tim Hortons to help get us through the day. Clare loves playing with the empty cups and even pretends she is drinking her tea. When we get a double cupped drink, Clare gets the extra cup and sticks her sippy cup in it and is one of the happiest children around. When Clare is receiving her chemotherapy, she is isolated to one room. It can be a tiresome day. She passes the day away with videos of her favorite programs, colouring and for this two year old, playing with Tim Horton's cups can be very entertaining. She places them on her head, copies us by pretending to drink out of them, removing the lid and putting the lid back on, giving her stuffed toys a drink, and one of her faves is to put them on her feet and wear the cups like slippers. She has the best time doing this. In the long car ride to the I.W.K, Clare is content to play with a Tim's cup while sitting in the car. Since we make a few stops to the nearest Tim Hortons along the way, empty cups are always handy. Thank you Tim Hortons for being one of the constants in our upturned lives.