What do you get when you combine good food, drinks, a great location, fishing gear, dumplings for bait and a group of men with plenty to share? We call it the launch of JBF OncoDads at La Vega in 2015. It’s an initiative that focuses exclusively on the fathers of childhood cancer patients. Yes, we do appreciate and celebrate the moms (we can’t do without them) but we also recognize the need to provide a peer support opportunity for the men who are facing their own challenges. Because they are perceived as ‘always strong’, there is hardly an outlet or an avenue for the guys to just let their guards down.
Our second outing was a small lime at Nia Valley in Princes town. Good food, good conversation and good vibes.
The men sat and chatted for hours about their personal journey with their children – through diagnosis and treatment and, in the case of two of the dads, the devastating reality of losing a child to cancer. A common thread in each testimonial was the sense of self discovery – a revived spirituality, a new direction in life, new purpose, and humility.
