Residents pitch in to help family
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

When Dee Dee Woods saw a fellow co-worker in need of help, she took action. So did Dave Ormand.

Separately, the two Camarillo residents were among the dozens of Chili's restaurant employees from Goleta to Los Angeles that dug into their pockets to make sure a single mother and her two young children enjoyed the holidays.

Nicole Randall is caring for 3year-old Lindzee and 4-year-old Cameron, who's battling kidney cancer, while working as a waitperson at the Oxnard Chili's.

Woods, who works with the 24year-old, said the employees are like a family.

"It tears me apart," Woods said. "I feel for her because I have three little ones of my own, and I can only imagine the pain they're going through."

Ormand, managing partner of the Thousand Oaks Chili's, said their company has a history of helping its employees. The parent company operates a fund that employees can contribute to for needy coworkers.

"The backbone is taking care of each other and having that payforward attitude," said Ormand, a 21year employee.

Chili's employees donated Christmas gifts to the Randall children and, including donations from others who heard about the family's plight, about $900 to help Randall pay for necessities, including the expense of living for weeks in the Los Angeles area when Cameron is hospitalized.

Randall said her son's medicine cost her more than $800 in November. MediCal doesn't cover the entire cost of the drugs, she said.

During his lifetime, Cameron Randall has had 16 surgeries. Some were to correct a congenital disorder he was born with. Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome causes certain body parts to grow larger than others, including internal organs. The 4-year-old has also been diagnosed with Wilms' Tumor, a kidney cancer associated with the disorder. Doctors removed a 12-pound tumor from his left kidney in 2005.

When the cancer returned in October, Cameron had a baseballsized tumor and a portion of his right lung removed. Doctors ordered intense chemotherapy treatments. But the dosage is so strong that Cameron must stay in the hospital for several days, sometimes weeks, afterward to recover.

"He's a tough kid for all the problems he's had," Randall said.

When Cameron is hospitalized in Los Angeles, Randall splits her time between being at his bedside and waiting tables at a nearby

Chili's to keep money coming in. Cameron was released on Christmas Eve after a 12-day stay.

He's scheduled to return to the hospital on Jan. 8 for another treatment. Randall said it's likely he'll be in the hospital for a month this time. Randall and her husband of five years separated in June. Although the Oxnard resident said she receives little emotional and no financial support from her exhusband, she does from her boyfriend. They're expecting a child later this year. And she's looking forward to being reunited with Lindzee, who's staying with Randall's grandmother in Arizona until Cameron is finished with the series of semimonthly chemotherapy treatments.

"Things will start to look better, I know they will," Randall said.