Another Victoria family needs help.
René Soto is an eight-year-old Oaklands Elementary School student who spent most of a year at B.C. Children’s Hospital after being diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2010. He has now relapsed for a second time. His parents, having been advised by a doctor to focus on having fun as a family, have scaled back their working lives.
In March, René and his parents, Julia and Luis, will go to Seattle for the first of two weeks of a form of treatment not available here. The B.C. health system will pay some, but not all, of the costs.
“I know first-hand that that’s the last thing you want to be thinking about,” says Dave Campbell, whose family spent several months in the U.S. last year in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to save their daughter Molly.
The Campbells are among a group of Oaklands parents who have rallied around René’s family. An Island Savings Credit Union account has been opened in René Soto’s name, and an online donation page can be found by going to youcaring.com and typing in Rallying for Rene.
As much as the donations help, just having the support of others hits home for René’s mother.
“It’s really nice that other people care about my child,” she said Wednesday. “It’s touching. Luis and I are so grateful.”
