Candlelighters began in 1989 with two parent support groups from the Texas Medical Center: one at Texas Children’s Cancer Center and one at The Children’s Cancer Hospital at MD Anderson Cancer Center. In the fall of 1993, the two organizations merged into one. The founding families’ first plan of action was to develop a program to connect families of children with cancer in order to provide the kind of support they wished they had while their children were on active treatment. Thus, the Parent Consultant Program was born.

Since 1992, Candlelighters Parent Consultants (parents of children with cancer) have been providing daily support to families of children receiving treatment at The Children’s Cancer Hospital at MD Anderson Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Cancer Center. We have grown from two Parent Consultants to five, and are still meeting daily with families at these institutions in the Texas Medical Center as well as the Texas Children’s Hospital West and Woodlands campuses, and now Children’s Memorial Hermann.

Our programs and services for families of children with cancer are not limited to in-patient families, but extend beyond the hospital walls. Over the years, we have learned how critically valuable it is for our Parent Consultants to be able to personally hand parents of children with cancer practical assistance such as a meal pass, parking assistance, or gas card; as well as provide opportunities for families to make memories together outside the hospital walls. It is our greatest honor and privilege to bring this type of comfort to childhood cancer families when stress is so high and they feel so helpless.

Candlelighters serves all children with cancer and their families at every stage of their journey. Our support extends to families of children on-treatment, long term survivors, adult survivors, and those whose child lost their battle with cancer. Cancer does not discriminate and neither does Candlelighters. All our programs and services are offered at no cost to families of children with cancer; once a Candlelighters family = always a Candlelighters family.