Jacob Collin Dolendo is a calm, good-humoured nine-month-old with big, expressive eyes and a ready smile who doesn鈥檛 fuss much and sleeps soundly.

His mom likes to call him 鈥淛akey.鈥�

鈥淢y son is a very happy boy,鈥� mom Cecilyn Estrella said, as Jacob snuggled close to dad Jonel Dolendo during a visit by a Times reporter.

He is their first child.

While he is generally an even-tempered kid, Jacob doesn鈥檛 much like needles, and there have been a lot of them since he was diagnosed with infantile acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in February.

Jacob is on his second round of intensive chemotherapy since the diagnosis, and he is the youngest patient in the Vancouver oncology ward where he is undergoing treatment.

He鈥檚 in remission right now, but he still has to undergo continuous chemotherapy because of his age and the risk of having a relapse or a second form of cancer.

Mom quit her job to look after her son, but dad has had to keep working.

The family has also been told that the Burnaby apartment they live in is going to be demolished in about three months, and that will mean an expensive move at a time when their finances are already stretched to the breaking point.

On Friday, Jonel and Cecilyn became the latest family to benefit from a 91原创-based campaign by a father and son to help people cope with the cost of fighting cancer.

91原创 resident Ashley Samborski and his dad Gerald delivered a cheque to the hospital where Jacob was being treated.

鈥淭his is $5,000 that鈥檚 going to help them out and take a little bit of stress off their back and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e all about,鈥� Ashley said.

鈥淭his is exactly the type of family I dreamed of helping when I was in the hospice next to my mom.鈥�

Adeline Samborski passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2013.

In the hospice, her son got to see first hand just how many people were struggling with finances while a loved one was fighting cancer. He was one of them.

鈥淚 missed a lot of work,鈥� Ashley said.

鈥淢y dad helped me out with bills (and) I said, 鈥榶ou know there鈥檚 people out there who don鈥檛 have a dad to help them out.鈥欌��

Since then, father and son have been patiently raising money, a little at a time, looking for donations and selling T-shirts, looking to help people cope with the costs of fighting cancer.

They helped their first family in 2015.

Jacob and his mom and dad are the second family they have assisted, and there will be a third down the road, just as soon as they have enough money collected.

The first time out, Ashley set up a website calling the campaign 鈥淓f Cancer鈥� which, depending on the audience, stood for 鈥渆veryone fights cancer鈥� or something less polite.

That website has been retired and replaced by a new site, .

鈥淚 think when I came up with my old name I was a little bitter with cancer and you know, I鈥檝e calmed down a little bit,鈥� he said.

He credits his dad with driving the second fund raising campaign, literally, to success, by making the rounds of 鈥渂asically all the restaurants in the Lower Mainland鈥� looking for donations of gift cards that could be raffled off.

Companies like the Keg, Brown鈥檚, Cactus Club and Princess Auto, as well as the and fundraiser to fight cancer in Cloverdale (who gave them space to sell T-shirts), were all generous contributors, Ashley said.

鈥淭he money just flooded in,鈥� he said.

鈥淎ll the people were really excited by what we鈥檙e doing,鈥� Gerald said.

鈥淭hey were saying it鈥檚 a good thing.鈥�

dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com
Like us on and follow us on