Maplewood Family Seeks Help in Daughter's Fight with Cancer

The HK Project is asking the South Orange-Maplewood community for help as a 3-year-old girl fights a rare, advanced brain cancer.

The Edelman/Phillips family learned in March that their daughter, Angelina, had stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells found in several areas of the body, according to Amy Jo Curran, executive director of HK Project. 

Neuroblastoma, which is diagnosed in just 500 children a year, most commonly affects children age 5 or younger, though it may rarely occur in older children. Angelina's cancer has spread to multiple areas of her body and has metastasized in her bones, Curran said in an email. 

Despite the advanced stage of Angelina's cancer, her family has been told that with treatment she has a 50 percent chance of survival, Curran said. (The five-year survival rate for children with neuroblastoma is 35 percent.) 

As Angelina has begun a rigorous protocol of chemotherapy that will last for at least a year and includes a stem cell transplant, the Edelman/Phillips family has discovered their Maplewood home has many maintenance issues that could pose a threat to their daughter's compromised immune system, Curran said. 

"We are asking for donations to help the family out with the extraordinary expenses they are now presented with," Curran said.

The family are involved members of the SOMA community. Sandy Edelman, Angelina's father, grew up here and is a graduate of Columbia High School.

To make a donation, visit the HK Project website; under 'donations,' click the HK CARES button. Or, send a check to: 

HK Project, 515 Valley Street, Suite 130, Maplewood, NJ  07040. Please write Angelina in the memo line of the check. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go directly to the family.

The family is also seeking childcare for their 5-year-old son Aidan.  If you know of a mature college or high school student willing to donate their time, email Curran (amyjocurran@gmail.com) or call her at 973-762-4062.