For cancer-stricken children, hope can be carried by a kangaroo

Tuhk Potter is singing and dancing his way through childhood, enjoying the life that he almost lost and all the hoopla that surrounds his recovery from leukemia.

But at the age of 6 it’s not easy to grasp that, just by being alive, he started a nationwide effort to bring hope to other children with cancer-related illnesses.

When Tuhk was stricken two years ago, Dan and Jeanine Potter moved their family of five children (now there are six) from Portland, Ore., to Duarte where they could be together while Tuhk underwent a bone marrow transplant at the City of Hope Medical Center.

After weeks in isolation and chemotherapy, Tuhk had an immediate response when someone asked what mattered most to him when he was sick.

“Disneyland and my stuffed animals,” he said.

“We figured if that’s all it takes to give these children encouragement to live, then maybe we could help provide these things,” Dan Potter said.

Thus was born A Dream Come True Foundation. Friends in Portland had been seeking ways to help Tuhk and other children suffering from cancer. Based on what his son had told him, Potter suggested that a foundation be established to pay for visits to Disneyland for some young cancer victims and their families and to send each child a toy kangaroo.

The kangaroo was chosen for symbolic reasons because it is the only animal that can move only forward, not backward. A Dream Come True Foundation gives a kangaroo to every child who applies and enrolls them in its Kangaroo Club, which sends newsletters and birthday and holiday cards.

The foundation president, Carol Olpin of Portland, said that through an appeal for sponsors of individual children and donations, about $8,000 has been raised.

In its first year the foundation paid for a three-day visit to Southern California, with the promised visit to Disneyland, for three young cancer victims and their families, all from Oregon and Washington. The foundation has applications from many more and is recruiting sponsors who will donate $1,500 for each family’s trip to Disneyland.

Olpin said about 45 children, from as far away as Maryland, belong to the Kangaroo Club. News about the club was spread by word of mouth or by doctors. Because of its focus on Tuhk, the foundation will make Southern California its base of operation after February.

“These children need things to look forward to, to give them hope,” Potter said.

When Tuhk was diagnosed as having acute myeloblastic leukemia, he was a photographer’s model and one of the dancing and singing Potter Kids who entertained at many events in the Portland area.

Since they moved to Duarte, and after Tuhk’s recovery, five of the children--cq Triskin, Tarrish, Trek, Tuhk and Tylee--perform and model. Although too young to join the family act, 2-year-old Talon is already modeling. Jeanine Potter said Tuhk has just completed roles in two television commercials.

To raise money for the foundation and its own Wellness Program, which provides a variety of free health services to the public, Duarte’s Santa Teresita Hospital will a hold a three-day festival beginning Friday 3 in the hospital’s Madonna Hall.

Dozens of Christmas trees, donated and decorated by local organizations, businesses and individuals, will be auctioned. Throughout, there will be refreshments and continuous entertainment and visits by celebrities, including actress Loretta Young and gymnast Peter Vidmar.

The festival will be held from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. The hospital is at Buena Vista Street and Royal Oaks Drive.

It seems only fitting that Tuhk and the other performing Potter children will provide some of the entertainment.