Norfolk OPP promote card drive for young girl battling cancer

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Southern Ontario is rallying together to make a Beeton girl’s 12th birthday special. 

Eleven-year-old Sarah Hamby is approaching her 12th birthday after receiving her fifth lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis. 

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A card drive has been organized to get as many birthday cards to the young girl as possible. Among those collecting cards is the Norfolk County OPP detachment.

Norfolk County OPP Const. Ed Sanchuk said he wanted to become involved in the card drive after seeing a post on social media. 

“As a parent of a 12-year-old girl, I couldn’t even imagine what the family is going through; especially 11-year-old Sarah, who is a truly brave and courageous young woman,” said Sanchuk. “I wanted to be able to try and bring a smile to Sarah’s face. I contacted Sarah’s mom through social media and asked if I could help.”

Sarah’s first cancer diagnosis was on Oct. 13, 2012, when she was just three years old. She has since received relapse diagnoses on July 27, 2016, Feb. 2, 2018, Sept. 16, 2019, and most recently on Oct. 29, 2020. 

Leila Paugh, a family friend from Niagara Falls, wanted to make her birthday special by having at least 100 birthday cards sent to the young girl. 

“I made a post for my family and friends to send Sarah a card because a lot of them know her through me,” she said. “People from my church, my family, my work colleagues, they were like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’ll for sure send a birthday card.’” 

The post has travelled further than Paugh expected, including to the  West Region OPP Twitter account.

“I spoke with Const. Sanchuk and he said they’d like to repost it,” she said. 

Paugh said her goal of 100 cards will probably be matched, adding the minister at her church told her she may need a bigger box for all of the mail they’ve been receiving for Hamby. 

“Her time hasn’t been like a normal childhood, she hasn’t attended school a lot,” said Paugh.

The Grade 6 student receives most of her schooling from a tutor while at the Ronald McDonald House near Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. 

“Her spare time is spent with family and friends doing what she loves to do,” said the family friend. “She loves to bake, go for walks, they just got a puppy not too long ago so that’s an exciting motivation to get up and out of the house.”

For those planning to get birthday cards for Sarah, she enjoys puppies, Wreck-It Ralph, Disney’s Descendants, and everything unicorn. 

Sarah’s birthday is Dec. 5.

“She was so sad, she figures she’s going to spend her birthday in the hospital,” said Paugh. “She just wanted to have a happy birthday with her family and this diagnosis kind of knocked the wind out of her sails. I can’t imagine turning 12 with your fifth cancer diagnosis.”

As of Nov. 12, Sarah was approved to receive Blinatumomab treatment and began medication the week of Nov 16. She will be at Sick Kids for eight to 10 days for observation and will be sent home for further treatments and frequent checkups.

Cards can be sent to the Norfolk County OPP detachment at Sarah H c/o OPP, 548 Queensway West, Simcoe, ON, N3Y4T2. 

Sanchuk extended thanks on behalf of the Sanchuk and OPP family for the support the Norfolk community has already shown for this initiative.

“My office is filling up quickly,” he said.

Sanchuk is planning on driving the cards up to Sarah on her birthday to deliver them personally on behalf of the community. 

“My goal is to try and bring some smiles to the face of a courageous young lady battling cancer for the fifth time,” he said. “Just thinking about that chokes me up.”

A GoFundMe, set up by another family friend, is also available. The link is https://ca.gofundme.com/f/sarah-the-leukaemia-warrior-princess.