Calgary’s Kids Cancer Care heads to Mexico to build a home for family in need

It’s a day she will remember forever.

Jo Pricca was just 12 years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on Aug. 25, 2017.

Pricca felt as if she was caught in a whirlwind of emotions and information, as her life became a blurry haze from the moment of her cancer diagnosis to the day of her first surgery.

“I just knew that my mom had immediately started crying,” Pricca recalls.

Instead of becoming consumed by her own thoughts, Pricca attempted to lighten the situation with humour.

“My mom was crying, my dad looked halfway to tears, and when my grandma showed up I think she was crying, too. So I just thought ‘I’m gonna crack jokes.’”

An emotional rollercoaster

Pricca initially exhibited remarkable strength, but as time passed, she began to face increasing difficulties and struggles.

“Treatment is very isolating because you can’t really see your friends or extended family without making sure everyone is healthy,” Pricca says.

Any sniffle or cough could be detrimental to people like Pricca, whose immune systems are weakened by cancer and treatment.

However, Pricca began to feel a sense of community when she met Kids Cancer Care and was introduced to kids going through similar experiences.

“Kids Cancer Care made me feel as normal of a kid and teenager as I could be,” Pricca says.

A support group

Kids Cancer Care offers a Teen Leadership Program (TLP) that helps teenagers affected by cancer develop leadership skills, make meaningful connections with peers, and gain valuable experience in community engagement and advocacy.

“Sometimes that looks like teens who were just diagnosed and are on treatment, teens moving into palliative care, but it also looks like the siblings of those teens,” says Kaity Doiron, outreach program coordinator for Kids Cancer Care.

“We recognize at Kids Cancer Care that a diagnosis for a child is a diagnosis for the whole family.”

According to Doiron, TLP has been running for the past 15 years targeting youth between the ages of 15 to 18.

Not only does TLP help teens get through the mental and physical tribulations after receiving a diagnosis, but the program also helps them live as normally as possible through resume workshops, budget planning, and more, Dorian adds.

Raising awareness

Pricca joined TLP once she turned 15 and was forever changed.

“After joining TLP, I remember very much just knowing that I wanted to do things like this, I want to continue being a part of Kids Cancer Care, I want to raise awareness about this,” Pricca says.

Pricca is determined to advocate for childhood cancer research, which only receives five per cent of overall cancer research funding in Canada, according to the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance.

“I am worth more than five per cent,” Pricca says.

TLP instills values of giving back to the community and inspires the teens to work towards a better future, Doiron says.

“They are so inspiring. Not only do they grapple with very mature concepts, whether they're the patient themself or their sibling, but they are also committed to their community.”

Giving back to the community

Pricca received her final chemo treatment on Dec. 18, 2019, and while she is still experiencing the physical effects, she is excited to give back to her community.

“Cancer is a bitch, but I am worse.”

Now, Pricca is heading to Mexico with other alumni and members of the TLP with Kids Cancer Care in partnership with Homes of Hope to build a house for a family in need.

Eight teens currently in the TLP program will be heading down to Mexico to assist in building the home.

Another five alumni, including Pricca, will also be attending because the pandemic prevented them from going on their originally scheduled trip in 2020.

“Our group at that time has now aged out. They had fundraised and planned to go on the trip, but of course the pandemic stopped many things,” Dorion says.

One more fundraiser

The 2020 trip to Mexico was cancelled three days before the group was scheduled to leave.

“I had a mom come to me and she said, ‘My son was diagnosed and it took away his childhood in Grade 7, 8, and 9. And now COVID happened and instead of getting those years back, it took away three more,’” Dorion recalls.

Even though the trip was cancelled, the teens made sure the money that had been raised still went towards building the house in 2020, despite the fact that they could not be there to see the project through.

“When we fundraised, it was really nice. But it is going to feel so much better to build it with our own hands,” Pricca says.

TLP and the alumni are heading off to Mexico in mid April and are hosting one of their last fundraisers on March 12.

You can bring your empty bottles and monetary donations to the Kids Cancer Care office to help them achieve their goal and build a house in Mexico for a family in need.