Charity helping families with kids with cancer

COLLINSVILLE, Okla. - A Green Country charity is making sure the memory of a young girl not only lives on, but also makes a difference in the lives of others.

It's play time for Ashley Paget and her daughter Journey, just a few years removed from a much darker time -- when Journey was battling cancer.

"Just watching a 5-month-old having to go through things like that," said Paget, "It's heart wrenching."

At the time, her daughter was only 19 pounds.  Her cancerous tumor was three pounds.
    
While her doctors beat the tumor, it came at a high cost.  

Ashley needed financial help.  And she found it in Hannah's Helping Hands.

"They paid my house taxes for me and made two months of payments so I didn't have to worry about that which was a big relief," said Paget.

The people who started Hannah's Helping Hands know all about needing relief.

The charity is named after a friend they lost, who died of cancer five years ago, just a week before her 17th birthday.

"When we lost her we felt like this was a good way for her spirit to live on," said Tracy Sirmon, Hannah's Helping Hands Vice President.

"I don't think we will ever lose sight of why we started or why we are doing what we're doing because it originated with Hannah," said one of her friends, Kimberleigh Sirmon.  "And we're never going to lose that.  It's always going to be for Hannah."

So far 'Hannah's Helping Hands' has helped at least 40 families with children battling cancer, giving them more than $93,000.

The organization raises the money through a series of fundraisers through out the year.

They say it's in honor of Hannah's giving spirit.

"When she was sick she saw that there were other families that didn't have enough money to get pop out of the vending machine," said Tracy Sirmon. "And it was really heavy on her heart."

And now her friends and family are making a difference, by making sure her spirit is still filling the hearts of others.

To donate to Hannah's Helping Hands or request help, click here - http://www.hannahshelpinghands.org/resources.html