NISSWA — The Nisswa Lions Club recently added childhood cancer to their service projects, and it’s a topic that hits particularly close to home for Nisswa Lion George Olson.
I had a son that was born with cancer — neuroblastoma.
“I had a son that was born with cancer — neuroblastoma,” said Olson, committee chair of the childhood cancer project.
Five hours after son George was born, he was in an ambulance enroute to a Minneapolis hospital. The family lived in Spicer at the time with their daughter.
At 3 days old, George had surgery to remove a kidney and his tumor.
“And that started the whole process of numerous treatments and surgeries, biopsies and all the scans,” Olson said.
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George underwent a bone marrow transplant. For a stretch of time when he was 3, they were in the Twin Cities for three straight months, with Olson and his wife taking turns there.
Followup treatments continued, along with more biopsies and scans.
“There were a lot of long days over the years,” Olson said.
In 2009, at age 12, George died from complications from all the different treatments and surgeries he’d had.
Olson was a Lions club member in Spicer, and when the family moved to Nisswa in 2016, he joined the Nisswa Lions Club.
Two years later, Lions International made childhood cancer one of their five pillars, along with environment, hunger, diabetes and vision.
I put the two together and said, ‘Why can’t the Lions help out?’ Not just by doing a fundraiser, but taking a hands-on approach and working to take things off a person’s or family’s to-do list. Give them a few less things to think about.
“When I heard that, and knowing that the Lions motto is ‘we serve,’ I remembered what we needed to plan for before each treatment and the help we got from family and friends when gone,” Olson said.
“I put the two together and said, ‘Why can’t the Lions help out?’ Not just by doing a fundraiser, but taking a hands-on approach and working to take things off a person’s or family’s to-do list. Give them a few less things to think about,” he said.
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The Lions project has two parts: fundraising and in-kind services to help families.
Last September — which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month — the club hosted a fundraising chicken dinner at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa that raised a little over $4,000. This will become an annual event.
That money will go to help families with nonmedical expenses, such as buying gas cards and gift cards to restaurants and grocery stores as well as toward such financial stressors as car maintenance costs.
In-kind services the Lions hope to offer include mowing lawns, removing snow, running errands, watching pets, providing handyman services and transportation to appointments, taking care of laundry, doing light housekeeping, offering meals and more for families.
The Nisswa Lions donated $2,500 to the Ronald McDonald House, where families stay when their child is in the hospital. Schroeder’s Appliance donated a chest freezer and the Zone 1 Lions, which includes area clubs, collected items to donate to the Ronald McDonald House as well.
Most recently, the Nisswa Lions donated $500 to a fundraiser for the Cole Carlson family, of Pillager. Carlson, a high school junior, is battling a rare form of cancer that presented as a soft tissue tumor, wrapped around his spine, making it inoperable.
Olson brought the idea of embracing the childhood cancer pillar to the Nisswa Lions board in November 2021, and made a presentation in early 2022.
I love doing it, love giving back. That’s the best thing about being alive — helping other people.
Robert Hannahs, who owns a fundraising catering business called Qing for Communities, jumped on board.
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“I can do a fundraiser,” he said. “I know how to raise money.
“I love doing it, love giving back. That’s the best thing about being alive — helping other people,” said Hannahs, who is co-chair for the Lions’ childhood cancer project.
Now that the word is out, the Nisswa Lions seek families who have children with cancer and who need their help. To that end, they’ve talked to school nurses in the Brainerd and Pequot Lakes school districts.
“I just remember all the things we went through,” Olson said.
Olson and Hannahs also hope other Lions clubs embrace this pillar and offer services to help such families.
For more information, visit www.nisswalions.org or email nisswalionsclub@gmail.com .
Nancy Vogt, editor, may be reached at 218-855-5877 or nancy.vogt@pineandlakes.com. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Nancy.
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