Dad’s ill, but family tries to carry on

Every spring for the last six years, 12-year-old Hayley Nassif and her father, Charles, have attended the annual Costa Mesa Girl Scouts Father/Daughter Dance. Six months ago her father learned he had cancer and had to undergo surgery a month before the event last March. But he still made it, in a wheelchair.

His illness has dramatically affected the family. Charles Nassif had to leave his job as a plumber because of chemotherapy treatments. Now his wife, Beverly, supports the family of four on her income as a child-care provider.

But their daughter remains a happy-go-lucky girl who loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian. She is looking forward to participating in Trail Blazers, the Girl Scouts intermediate-level horse camp at Camp Scherman this summer.

Last year when both her parents worked, they could afford to send Hayley to the Idyllwild camp, where she learned to groom, saddle and ride a different horse each day. This year, however, she needed a “campership” from the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Fund.

Hayley’s Girl Scout troop leader, Lori Hammarlund, and her mom are concerned about how she’s dealing with her father’s illness. The seventh-grader and her 14-year-old brother, Reece, lost their maternal grandparents to cancer, so they know what the illness can be like, their mom said.

Yet although Reece asks questions about it, she said the “daddy’s girl” pretends nothing is wrong.

“I don’t know what it is with her. I tried to get her to talk about it. She just kind of switches off,” Beverly Nassif said. “In case it goes the other way, I don’t know what is going to happen with her.”

Hayley is typically upbeat. “She’s the most full-of-life girl I know; she is always happy and the center of action,” Hammarlund said. “We go on these camp-outs, and they don’t go to sleep until 3 a.m., and she’s ready to go in the morning. One girl said to me, ‘If Hayley wasn’t in the troop, it wouldn’t be any fun.’ ”

When the 11 cadet Scouts had to pick an event to plan next year, Hayley suggested her favorite: the Father/Daughter Dance. And since she used to love to go surfing with her dad and brother, she came up with the idea of having the dance at the beach with a surf-party theme.

Her mother and troop leader thought the girls should pick a different event, but after careful consideration they changed their minds. Hammarlund said, “Wherever Charles is, this will be good for Hayley.”

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