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Sunday Spotlight

When cancer diagnoses bring the unknown, Lending Hearts steps in with love | KD Sunday Spotlight

By Megan Shinn

/ CBS Pittsburgh

Lacie Spagnolo's son, Jimmy, is her everything. 

"Every day that I have him, still till this day, is that gift and I know it," said Spagnolo.

He's a gift because at four months old, doctors diagnosed him with a brain tumor. She said, "One in a million shot of him getting something like that."

So, the family chose to treat their infant with one round of chemotherapy, to start. 

"It was our Hail Mary." She said. "It worked. It shrank by 25%, unheard of. We picked the one med that happened to work really well for Jimmy."

He is stable now, and through it all, Jimmy has kept high spirits, but the tumor is still not gone.

"The tumor comes and goes as it pleases," Spagnolo said. "We live a lot in the unknown."

The unknown is a space many families of kids with cancer understand, and it's why Vasso Paliouras started the nonprofit Lending Hearts. It's a local nonprofit helping children and teens who are fighting cancer.

"We want everyone to walk away knowing that it's not about the diagnosis, it's about living," said Paliouras.

She understands this experience, because doctors diagnosed her sister with cancer while she was in high school.

Her sister's diagnosis later sent Paliouras on a mission to help other families.

"It's about sharing and creating those memories and experiences together with your loved ones," she said.

We're talking about experiences like outings to go ice skating, see the symphony, and meet the performers; going on the field before and attending Pirates games; and so much more.

It's more than free events; it's an escape from everyday struggles while dealing with cancer.

"To have a space where we can go and find our own form of medicine, which is talking and relating and having fun and living life," Spangnolo said.

Now this nonprofit's seen 15 years of community support, with much more hopefully to come.

"How do we do more? How do we offer more? There are so many more families out there who can use our support," Paliouras said.

It reminds everyone that joy is essential to healing.

If you didn't know, in the oncology world, the term young adult goes all the way up to 39.

Lending Hearts also provides support groups and resources, on top of the events. For more information on lending hearts and how you can help, . 

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