Help them heal!

In the spirit of the holiday season and the season of giving I would like to take this time to tell you a story and hope that you can spare a moment and a penny to help a great cause.

I am one of the fortunate few to have stayed in contact with my best friend from school and am honoured to still call her one of my bests. We've been through about 16 years of friendship, traversed continents and watched each other go through all life's ups and downs. Recently she's been through what I hope is one of the worst downs of her life. Her husband was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and found himself unemployed as his working environment could not accommodate him during chemotherapy. Nicole and Helmuth have two beautiful, young daughters who have had to watch their dad go through one of the most painful experiences of his life. They have had to see him bed bound and in so much pain knowing that there is nothing that they can do to help him. Helmuth has been incredibly strong throughout this whole process and has been lucky enough to have the continuing support of his wife.

The family however still has a long way to go. Helmuth still has a few months ahead of him before he can start looking for work again and to top it off Nicole has also been in hospital which resulted in three weeks unexpected unpaid leave from work. Those of you with kids know how much it costs to run a household, buy groceries, pay school fees etc and with one parent not earning and another getting salary cuts this is a particularly hard time for them. The stress of keeping a roof over your families head while you are dealing with cancer is one I hope not many of us ever have to endure. This family has already been through so much when they lost their son in 2011 and have endured so many hardships since then.
This being said, they are still some of the most positive, fun loving and life loving people I know. Those kids absolutely adore their parents and the love they have for each other is beautiful to see! I can only hope that I have the strength, love and hope in me that they do if I ever had to go through something similar. I know that no matter what they will help each other through this difficult time and have each other to lean on but I am hoping that we can all make this time easier for them.

I know everyone has their own issues and problems in life but if you could spare anything to help this family I know it will go a long way and they will be forever grateful!

I am calling out to all the wonderful friends I've met abroad who can maybe spare a Dollar, Pound, Euro, Dinaar or Dirham. The South African Rand being what it is means that a very small donation to you could mean a lot in Rands, any little bit will help!

We have 41 days till Christmas, let's see if we can help this amazing family be able to have a more relaxed and stress free holiday season and give them a Christmas present that can help them through the following months.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!! :)