Jane Scranton has a mission.
It’s a mission sparked by the wish to help a family who is going through a health crisis that her family understands.
On Nov. 30, Jane began making Christmas crafts to help raise money for the Krawczyk family. The money would be used to help pay for expenses connected to three surgeries in the U.S. that 12-year-old Halle Krawczyk needs to fight a rare cancer.
“I asked Jane how she wanted to help out. She’s pretty crafty, so she decided she wanted to make some Christmas crafts…,” Jane’s mother Kim said.
“We went through the internet and picked some fairly simple designs.”
Bright and beautiful in their simplicity, tree decorations, signs and lanterns now fill their table.
Kim said they initially set a goal of $150. On the morning of Dec. 7, sales had surpassed $2,000.
“She’s been busy, she’s a busy little elf,” Kim smiled.
People have been very generous with Jane’s crafts. Some will spend $50 on a lantern, or some donate without taking anything in return, she said.
“It’s nice to see the community is supporting, and people who don’t even know the family. That’s really nice to see.”
Kim has heard of several other fundraisers including silent auctions, cut-a-thons by hairdressers and her own ‘physio-a-thon,’ where physiotherapists are donating their time.
She said Jane started the crafts last Sunday and would come home from school every day and work on them.
“She spent the whole weekend this weekend working… I keep saying, ‘you can take a break’ and she says ‘no, no, I love it.’ She’s really enjoying it and liking the fact that she’s able to raise money for another cancer kid.”
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Kim explains that Jane was diagnosed with leukemia when she was five. She has now been off chemo for just over a year and is in remission. However, during treatment Jane had an allergic reaction to the main chemo drug, so a back-up drug was needed.
“In our case it was a worldwide shortage of a drug vital to Jane’s treatment plan. We didn’t know whether she’d get it in time,” said Kim.
The Scrantons live in Salmon Arm so have met Halle, Hunter, Carolyn and Matt Krawczyk. Kim said Halle and Jane are not friends as such, but go to the same gymnastics place and know of each other.
“All oncology families share a connection that we’ve been given the terrifying news that our kids have cancer, but just being local we have connected with them and, in our particular scenario, we’ve both been told that there is a potentially life-saving treatment out there that we might not be able to access.
“I can identify with that here, it was the most terrifying feeling to not know whether you could help your child,” Kim said.
She added that raising money was just part of the catalyst for her and Jane.
“But also so that they don’t feel like they are doing this fight alone. We will do everything we can to make sure they feel like they have an army backing them up because even if they have all the money they need, it’s still a terrifying road ahead.”
If you’d like to purchase one of Jane’s crafts to support the Krawczyks, you’re asked to email Kim at kimlahti@hotmail.com. She and Jane can do door-drop deliveries to keep things COVID-friendly, as long as they’re local addresses.
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