LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — No parent wants to tell their kids they can’t go out and play when the weather is perfect outside. However, that’s the reality for many kids battling cancer with a weakened immune system.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The nonprofit RocSolid Foundation is building playsets for families to use in between hospital visits.
“This is going to change our world,” Ellie Flieger said.
Her daughter, Annie, is battling B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She was gifted a playset, but it’s so much more than that.
For 3-year-old Annie, her new playset is a pirate ship, castle, restaurant, and a safe haven.
“She was diagnosed three days before Christmas,” Ellie Flieger said. “Our son was just a month old.”
The 3-year-old — who loves the color purple and Taylor Swift — is battling leukemia. Her diagnosis came like a wrecking ball.
“April of 2026 is when her treatment ends,” her mother said. “We’re looking forward to that day.”
Until then, it’s constant hospital trips for Annie’s treatment. If that’s not hard enough, she can’t play in public parks because of her compromised immune system.
That’s why Roc Solid Foundation is stepping up to give her a way to play. The nonprofit and its volunteers build backyard playsets for kids fighting cancer across the country.
“They don’t know my daughter, but they’re giving their time to do this,” Ellie Flieger said. Her husband, Kenny, called the volunteers “awesome.”
Annie can now play safely with friends and push any worries of hospitals or treatments far out of her mind.
“That’s what she says all the time,” her mother said. “She says, ‘Go away cancer! We don’t like you!'”
Roc Solid Foundation not only built a play space where Annie can be a kid, it also gave her family hope for her future.
“We’ll see a lot of great memories that come out of this,” Kenny Flieger said.
This is Roc Solid Foundation’s third annual Play Defeats Cancer Tour. For Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the nonprofit is gifting and building nearly 80 playsets and playhouses.
If you’d like to donate to the cause, click here.
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