A single mother in southern Maine survived a difficult battle with cancer this year, but her medical expenses have left little money for holiday gifts. She turned to the Portland Press Herald Toy Fund for help putting presents under the Christmas tree for her three children.

“We want the children to enjoy the holidays after the worry and stress that they have had this year,” she wrote in a letter to the toy fund.

Since her diagnosis with acute myeloid leukemia over the winter, the 41-year-old mom has spent weeks at a time in hospitals for chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow transplant. She was often away from her kids.

“They’re very happy to spend Christmas with me,” she said. “They didn’t think I was going to be here. They kept asking, ‘Are you going to be home for Christmas?’ ”

The kids’ father has helped take care of them during her illness, but she said he is disabled and doesn’t have much income to spare. While she is currently in remission and recovering well from the transplant surgery, the mother hasn’t been able to return to her job in health care yet. When she found out about the toy fund through the children’s school, their mom said it was one example of the kindness she has experienced from friends and strangers during her illness.

“I’m so grateful to people I don’t even know,” she said. “There’s a lot of bad, but there’s also a lot of good.”

The Portland Press Herald Toy Fund in the Spirit of Bruce Roberts is using donations from readers to provide toys to thousands of Maine children who might otherwise not receive holiday gifts because of hardships faced by their parents.

The fund – now in its 67th year – is accepting applications for toys from needy families in Cumberland, York, Sagadahoc, Lincoln and Knox counties.

Applications can be downloaded at pressheraldtoyfund.org or picked up at the Welcome Center desk on the fifth floor of One City Center in Portland.

Call 791-6672 to have one mailed to you.

Donations to help buy the toys can be made on the website or by writing checks to the Portland Press Herald Toy Fund and mailing them to the fund at P.O. Box 7310, Portland, ME 04112.

For more information and to donate online, go to pressheraldtoyfund.org.

See more stories about the fund at pressherald.com.

WENDESDAY’S TOY FUND DONORS

William A Pond Sr.   $150

In memory of Eugene Debor   $100

Merry Christmas! The 12 Cs   $120

James & Mary Currie   $30

Bob Steele   $100

Nancy Peck   $50

Anonymous   $50

Joan & Robert Nigro   $100

Richard & Nancy Lemieux   $200

In memory of my Aunt Frances who was always so generous to her nephews, from John E. Dooley   $250

For the children, Arnold & Susan Harmon   $100

Merry Christmas to all – Deborah & Allen Cairns   $50

In memory of John Ganem   $25

Barbara Rachel   $50

Merry Christmas from Rusty & Sally Bennett   $100

Thanks for doing this, Marie R. Barlow   $200

Anonymous   $300

Judith C Bromley   $50

Stanley & Kathleen Murray-Allain   $350

A friend   $25

Anonymous   $100

In honor of Long Island Town Hall employees   $75

Total to date  $17,655.60

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