Sarnia-Lambton residents are encouraged to wear their pyjamas to school and work on Wednesday to support children facing a cancer diagnosis.
February 15 is International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day, so ChildCan is hoping the local community can help spread some awareness.
Community Engagement and Events Associate Amy Mathias said the objective of Pyjama Day is to make children who are faced with a cancer diagnosis feel more visible.
The Sarnia Sting showing support for ChildCan's Pyjama Day. February 2023. (Photo by ChildCan)
"What we found is that with kids who are facing a cancer diagnosis, they're at home, they're in their PJs and so we wanted to make them feel less alone, less isolated by encouraging everybody to wear their PJs on that day."
The London-based organization, which supports children from Windsor to Kitchener and from Port Stanley to Owen Sound, has been hosting the event for a few years now.
Mathias said after a Sarnia mom, with a child diagnosed with cancer, found out the Sarnia Sting were taking part in this year's initiative she reached out to ChildCan to show her appreciation.
"Because they feel invisible. It's not something that gets talked about an awful lot, so to see that awareness and see that the Sarnia Sting were out there supporting them and they were in their local area, it really meant an awful lot to that family."
Mathias said in any given year, they have about 250 families on their books who are currently going through treatment.
"Children do come to London an awful lot for their treatments and the treatments last, on average, at least three months and often in excess of three years."
Mathias also said childhood cancer is really expensive.
"It's estimated that a family will lose one-third of their income when they receive a childhood cancer diagnosis, because often if there's a two-parent family, then one of the parents will have to give up their job, and the expenses of childhood cancer are still expensive. When you think about the cost of parking alone, those costs can add up."
Mathias said while PJ Day is an awareness campaign, they still raised around $8,000 last year. She said that money goes towards the parking passes and meal vouchers for families that are in the hospital and all of the other ways they help relieve the burden that comes with a childhood cancer diagnosis.
To learn more about the campaign click here.
