As an oncology nurse at Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh, Rachel Antin saw the pain.

A sick parent would give everything he or she had to get well enough to be with their children. Antin watched as families struggled to find time together, away from the chemotherapy and blood tests and hospital.

“Interacting with these families every day, I could see they were struggling to find special moments of connection in their darkest hour,” Antin said. “I could see they needed a respite.”

Antin was inspired to give them just that — a few days, sometimes a few hours, to relax and be a normal family again.

She created One Day to Remember, an organization that provides a day of hope for ill parents and their children. There are nearly 3 million children in the U.S. who have a parent with a life-limiting illness, she said.

“Losing a parent at a young age alters the course of a child’s life,” said Antin of Squirrel Hill, herself a mother of two. “A piece of their future will be missing. It is an honor and a privilege to help these families. We want to show them a time where they can forget about their medical situation and have fun together.

“It’s about giving the families an experience and to make an impact on their lives.”

The organization started five years ago with 10 families and has since helped more than 100. Antin has 90 referrals to help families this year.

People can donate here.

Antin keeps in touch with families. It never gets any easier because many of the parents die.

She recalled the first day to remember in 2016 — a single mom and her daughter whom Antin met when she was working at Hillman. She treated them to a spa day, pizza-making and a photo session in the park.

The mother died shortly after.

That’s the reality, Antin said, of having to say goodbye to parents her organization has helped.

Courtesy of Dave Hochendoner Kate Crawford, (right), husband Steve, and their son S.J. and twin daughters Grace and Lily enjoy dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto on Mt. Washington.  

Cancer patient Kate Crawford, 37, of Belle Vernon, and her husband, Steve, 50, have always been upfront with their son, S.J., and twin daughters, Grace and Lily, about Kate’s diagnosis.

“My kids know I will die from this disease,” she said. “They know what can happen because we have lost friends. It is hard on the entire family. My husband has had to deal with all of it from seeing what I am going through to what the kids are dealing with.”

Steve Crawford said he just deals with it.

“You can say, ‘Poor me,’ ” he said. “But what good will that do?”

The couple attended this year’s One Bite One Day, the annual fundraiser for One Day to Remember, held in September. Crawford spoke to guests about being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 28. Her twin girls were 4 at the time, and her son was 2.

She’s had more than 140 treatments as well as surgeries and heart failure.

One day in May, her family was driven by limousine to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in Highland Park for a behind-the-scenes tour, then treated to Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream and dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto on Mount Washington.

“The gift of that day was priceless,” Crawford said of the. “We don’t take things for granted. We celebrate everything such as pre-school graduation like a high school graduation.”

The zoo was on her “Mommy Bucket List” of things she wants to do with her children.

Courtesy of Sean McErlane Cara Snyder (center) with her sons Hans, 6, and Jesse, 3, at Presque Isle State Park in Erie.  

One Day to Remember provided Cara Snyder, 42, of Mt. Lebanon, who has brain cancer, a weekend in Erie with husband Jeremy, 43, and sons Hans, 6, and Jesse, 3.

The family took a trip to Presque Isle in a recreational vehicle in late August. Hans loves RVs. He watches YouTube to learn more about them, his mom said. He told her he’s saving to buy one.

Meyers RV near Apollo, which supplied the transportation, found a campsite for the family.

“The kids loved it,” Cara Snyder said. “The pantry was stocked, and the refrigerator had food in it. It was the coolest thing, my son said. It made them happy and it made me happy.”

John Park, general manager of Meyer’s RV, understands what the Snyder family is going through. That’s why the company donated the RV for the trip.

Park’s family was one of the first recipients of One Day to Remember. His late wife, Adriane, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

In 2017, the couple and their four children — they have a daughter and son, and Adriane had a daughter and son before she married John — were treated to a day at the zoo, a Just Ducky river tour and dinner at Sienna Mercato in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Adriane died four years ago at age 36. John Park changed careers, switching from nursing to selling RVs. Before his wife became ill, the family went camping. Park said the photos bring smiles and tears.

“My children loved those trips,” Park said. “When a parent has a terminal illness, there isn’t much help. What Rachel is doing is amazing.”

Cara Snyder said she loves to look at the photos from her Erie trip.

“We always send a photographer to capture the moments,” Antin said. “They are beautiful moments the children will remember for a lifetime.”

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