A B.C. mother whose twins were diagnosed with leukemia at just two years old is sharing her family’s story in hopes it will help other children facing cancer. Speaking at a Hyundai Hope on Wheels fundraising event in Surrey Wednesday, Alisha Openshaw recounted the challenges her family faced after her sons, Weston and Bennett, were diagnosed and began treatment at B.C. Children’s Hospital. “We were scared, uneasy and broken,” Openshaw said. The twins spent much of their early childhood receiving treatment and care at the Vancouver hospital. “I remember the day of Bennett’s diagnosis so vividly, walking him into his first spinal chemotherapy procedure, holding him as he was being sedated and then walking out to go get Weston and do it all over again,” said Openshaw. “I watched Weston lose the ability to walk three times.” Throughout their treatment, Openshaw said, support from hospital staff helped her family navigate some of the most difficult moments. “I broke down in the hallway and one of our nurses walked over to me and hugged me and just held me for a minute and told me that they were going to get us through this,” she said. Today, the family’s story looks much different. After three years of tests, treatments and uncertainty, Weston and Bennett are now two years cancer-free. The twins, known as the “Twincredibles,” were among the guests at the Surrey fundraiser, which raised money for pediatric cancer research and care. Officials at the event said 154 children were diagnosed with cancer in British Columbia last year. Research funded through donations is already helping advance new treatments, according to Mike Lizardo, a staff scientist with the B.C. Cancer Foundation. “An example of a deliverable of research dollars is in 2024 we discovered a new class of drugs that can target osteosarcoma—that’s the same kind of cancer Terry Fox had,” Lizardo said. North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard, star of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and a Hyundai ambassador, also attended the event and praised the family’s resilience. “The strength they have and their family, it’s incredible, and obviously hearing their mom speak about it, it’s inspiring,” Bedard said. For Openshaw, sharing her family’s experience is about more than reflecting on the past. She hopes it encourages continued investment in cancer research and supports families facing similar diagnoses. “I look at them everyday and I just have a totally different outlook on their lives and my life and their childhood,” she said. “Seeing them just do normal stuff again is everything that we so longed for.” The event also served as an opportunity for Openshaw to thank the health-care workers who helped her sons reach a milestone that once seemed uncertain.
