Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children helps families around the state cope

My son has a safe place to come and play and express himself in any way he wants to without fear of getting sick or injured.”

Hayley Renfro

By J. Graber
Mail | X: @AzNewsmedia

Haley Renfro and her five-year-old son Henry recently decided to put their cares behind them for a little while so they went to summer camp.

What cares could a five-year-old have, you say?

Plenty.

Diagnosed with Langerhans cell histiocytosis — a rare disease that behaves a lot like cancer — when he was three, Henry has had a tumor in his brain much of his young life.

“It’s okay,” Renfro says with a labored smile. “It’s okay.”

Being medically fragile, Henry can’t go to the same kinds of summer camps a lot of kids attend, but he still gets to have a similar experience through the Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children.

It meant a two-hour drive because Henry and his mom live in Camp Verde and the center is in north Scottsdale, but Renfro said it’s worth it..

“A place like this means the world to my son,” Renfro said. “My son has gotten to experience things most kids who are sick would never be able to experience. My son has a safe place to come and play and express himself in any way he wants to without fear of getting sick or injured.”

Henry, sitting in an inflatable canoe next to a rescue dog named Leah, puts it a little more simply.

“I love this place because they give toys,” he said.

Now in its 12th year, the Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children was started by Chrisie Abramo after her daughter Ava lost her battle with neuroblastoma.

The foundation helps kids from birth to 18 fight their diseases -- that’s why they call the kids warriors.

The foundation provides social, emotional and financial help for those dealing with pediatric cancer.

They help the entire family too.  The foundation helped 500 warriors in 2025 and they are expecting about 560 this year. When family members are counted, that over 2,000 people served.

Whether they need help with school or just need a friend, the foundation is there for the young warriors, but it’s not only about them though.

Help with something like food can mean a lot, considering 81% of the families the foundation serves live below the federal poverty line.

“A ton of our services are not just wants but are necessities,” said Paige Daniels, the foundation’s community outreach coordinator.

The foundation is open to anyone dealing with pediatric cancer and their families in Arizona.

Volunteers do take the mission on the road to places like Tucson and other cities.

And one of those necessities is something as simple as some quiet time for mom and dad to recharge.

“They’ve got massage chairs back there, and you can just sit in them and know your child’s safe,” Elisabeth Hardy said.

Hardy is a mother of three girls and a 10-year-old son, Gordon, with Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive cancer primarily formed in bones which required the removal of his left leg..

“We’re done with treatment and everyone says,’Oh, you guys are done,’ but we’re still going into the doctors every couple of months for pokes and scans,” Hardy said. “We’re dealing with the amputation still. He’s permanently disabled, but when we come here they’re still taking care of us.

"(The Foundation's) like the only ones left that still care about us. Everyone else is like ‘You’re done, you’re better.’ You’re not. I’ve still got to cry about it every time I talk about it ... and they know our financials aren’t better. We’re still maxing our out-of-pocket (costs) and paying for everything.”

That’s why the foundation does things like put on a summer camp for a few hours every Wednesday in June for the warriors and their families.

And while that may not seem like much, those who attend say it is.

“He’s ... able to make friends who have disabilities like him,” Renfro said. “Where we live, there are a lot of kids who aren’t sick like him. He doesn’t have friends who understand what it’s like to just not feel good for no reason or to have medication that makes you angry and you can’t control it, or sad. He doesn’t have friends who know what it’s like to have a port accessed or an IV placed. Here he gets to see other kids who are going through hard times so he understands it’s not just him .”

For more information, visit azcancerfoundation.org.

Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

J. Graber
News Editor | Scottsdale

jgraber@iniusa.org

 Meet J.

Graber joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in February 2023, starting his career as a staff writer covering the City of Scottsdale and was named news editor of the Scottsdale Independent in 2024.

Community: He serves on the altar guild as well as being an usher at St. Mathews Episcopal Church in Chandler.  

Education: He earned his BA in creative writing with a minor in journalism from the University of Arizona. He then earned an MS in Mass Communications from the University of Oregon.

Random Fact: He enjoys reading novels by Russian authors.

Hobbies: Playing classical guitar, reading, fishing, going to the gym, watching sports and spending time with his family.