September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, but for families battling cancer, awareness is every day. Anna’s Bake Sale Foundation is baking a difference raising awareness and money to fund childhood cancer research.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Every year, Anna's Bake Sale sets up outside the Chick-fil-A in Waxahachie to "bake a difference" in childhood cancers.
It's a labor of love for Anna Day.
"A cancer diagnosis doesn't just affect, like, the person with cancer," Anna said. "It is a diagnosis for the entire family."
Anna was 9 years old when her 9-month-old sister, Isabella, was diagnosed.
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"Isabella was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroblastoma," Leslie Day, Anna and Isabella's mother said.
The tumor was discovered during a routine doctor's checkup for Isabella and her twin sister, Jaclyn.
"One minute both my kids were doing well, and the next minute he's putting my hand on that hard rock tumor," father Tim Day said. "Everything changed."
Isabella has spent nearly all of her 11 years fighting cancer. It's been difficult, the family said.
"We have to be away from each other a lot," twin Jaclyn said.
"When we are apart, sometimes she doesn't know if I could come back," Isabella said. "It's hard not knowing, not knowing that I might not see her again and I would miss that if that would happen."
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Isabella's family said her cancer is "dead" right now, meaning she still has it, but it has not grown or progressed.
"When something bad happens, we can either, like sit and do nothing and just wallow in the pain, the suffering, or we can get up and so something," Anna said. So she did something. "Started a bake sale."
Anna raised more than $2,000 in the first year. Now Anna's Bake Sale is a non-profit foundation, raising money and awareness for childhood cancers. Fundraising efforts at large only donate about 4% toward childhood cancers.
"I think that was the moment that I really decided something needed to change," Anna said. "And I wanted to help towards that."
"I really like that she did it for a bunch of kids, not just for me," Isabella said.
"She handles it with such grace," Anna said. "I'm really proud of her.
Anna's Bake Sale will be held this Saturday, September 24 outside the Chick-fil-A located at 996 West Highway 287 Bypass, Waxahachie 75165.
