A Helping Hand for the Henry's

Janelle Hopkins is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

These are very dear lifelong friends of ours. Mike (age 53) learned on Wednesday Aug 10 he has leukemia. After many tests over the last couple of days, yesterday he met with the doctors and learned he has what is called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL. It is the type of Leukemia that children usually get but is rare in adults. They do expect a positive outcome, but it will be a long hard road.

Initially, Mike will have intense Chemotherapy and he will be in the hospital for 3-4 weeks. After that, he will be treated as an outpatient, but will still have chemo treatments. There is a possibility of a stem cell transplant, but we don’t know yet if it will be necessary or recommended. We will know more about that in the weeks to come. There are many possible side effects from the drugs and they will monitor him very closely and make adjustments as necessary.

Mike is one one of the hardest workers I know. This illness has required him to give up his small landscaping business and the Doctors have said that it will probably be up to a year before he feels well enough to work again. He is also one of the engineers at our beautiful Calgary LDS Temple. He will have some disability kick in from there a few months down the road, but it will be a portion. I am hopeful that the financial stress will be eliminated for them before they even feel it.

It took A LOT and I mean A LOT of convincing for them to let me set this fund up. They are very humble people who have never asked or expected help from others, yet they have donated so much of their lives to giving, helping and serving others. They serve weekly in their church callings. Mike has also volunteered and devoted most of his life to coaching. He has coached for decades! He most recently coached the Bowness High School basketball and womens volleyball team for over 10 years. He coached all his kids community and club teams. His kids have all been heavily involved in sports and Mike has always been there to coach them and those in his community and surrounding areas. This has all been on his own time and dime to do so. He also coached the Mount Royal Mens Volleyball team.

With Mike unable to work for the next year I hope the community and their friends and family will give them a helping hand so that finances are the LEAST of their worries over the next year. They will need 100% of their energy to focus on supporting each other emotionally and physically. I know without having to worry about finances to pay the rent, the bills, the added health expenses, this will give them a huge relief to not have this added stress at this difficult time. Their son David (age 18) has been called to serve a 2 year mission for their church in Chile and will be leaving in November for two years to serve, help and teach the people of Chile about Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for your helping hand in advance. It means everything to me and I know it certainly will to them! Please share this gofundme page. Stay Strong Henry's! We Love you!
Janelle Hopkins