HOUSTON – September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to recognize the children facing cancer and the parents, siblings and loved ones walking alongside them.
For Houston families navigating that journey, Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Family Alliance provides something incredibly important: support from people who understand.
Founded by parents of children with cancer for families of children with cancer, Candlelighters provides emotional, educational and practical support throughout a family’s childhood cancer journey. The organization traces its roots to parent support groups at Texas Children’s Cancer Center and MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital and has been serving Houston-area families for more than three decades.
Support that goes beyond the hospital room
A childhood cancer diagnosis affects the entire family and many of the challenges families face aren’t medical.
Candlelighters helps fill those gaps.
Through its Parent Consultant program, parents who have experienced childhood cancer themselves help other families navigate the overwhelming world that can follow a diagnosis. Candlelighters also provides practical assistance including hospital parking, meal passes, gas and grocery gift cards, along with family programs designed to provide connection, encouragement and moments of normalcy.
And those seemingly small expenses can make an enormous difference.
Hospital parking, for example, is one of the organization’s most requested forms of assistance. Parking in the Texas Medical Center can cost $20 per day. For a family making repeated trips for appointments or spending weeks or months alongside a child in the hospital, that expense can add up to thousands of dollars.
In 2025 alone, Candlelighters reports serving 5,756 families, providing more than 4,800 hours of support and 11,034 parking validations.
All Candlelighters programs and services are provided at no cost to childhood cancer families.
KPRC 2 Community: Helping Houston help Houston
Throughout September, KPRC 2 will introduce you to some of the families behind those numbers and show how Candlelighters’ work is making a difference right here in our community.
We’ll also share ways Houstonians can get involved, beginning with the Candlelighters Fun Walk on Saturday, September 12, at Terry Hershey Park. The annual event raises funds and awareness for childhood cancer families while bringing the community together to walk alongside them.
Later this month, we’ll take a closer look at the financial burden of hospital parking and how something as simple as a $20 donation can help make one difficult day a little easier for a local family.
Because when a child is fighting cancer, a family’s focus should be on their child, not whether they can afford to park the car.
That’s why we’re proud to stand with Candlelighters this September.
No family should have to face childhood cancer alone.
Learn more about Candlelighters, its services, the Fun Walk, and ways you can help on the Candlelighters website.
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