Community rallies around toddler battling rare cancer

The family of a two and a half year old Ottawa girl battling a rare and deadly form of cancer got some much needed support from her sister's school on Saturday.

Manor Park Public School held a garage sale in honour of Phoebe Doull-Hoffman who has been battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia since she was nine weeks old.

“It's really lifted me up to know that people were thinking of her or praying for her,” said Phoebe’s mom Jenny Doull in a telephone interview.

The entire family, including Phoebe’s older sister Mae, a student at the school, is at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN and hoping another clinical trial will cure Phoebe’s cancer for good.

Many fundraising events have been organized by the school to raise money for the family as they often have to travel out of town for Phoebe’s treatment.

“This all started off in January with Mae standing up in front of the entire school body,” said Mae’s teacher Donna Muldoon.

“She told her whole school that her sister was sick and that that's the reason we wanted to raise money for her.”

The garage sale alone raised more than $4,000.

“It's amazing, it's very touching. It fills you with such energy and hope and it’s just fabulous,” said Kirstin Doull, Phoebe’s aunt.

“They never took no for an answer. They're persevering every step of the way and they're never going to give up and that's something that's been very inspiring for us,” said parent Linda Adams

To read more about Phoebe’s story and how you can help, visit the blog her mom, Jenny, has started.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Katie Griffin