By Elise Shire
Oxford Leader Staff Writer
A group of Oxford residents is hosting a spaghetti dinner to benefit two Oxford residents currently battling cancer, Joe and Andrea Sjoblom.
The dinner will be held Sunday, April 30 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the American Legion Post 108 (130 E. Drahner Rd.).
Andrea is a 2000 Lake Orion High School graduate, while her husband, Joe, is a 1993 LOHS graduate.
After the death of Andrea’s sister in Nov. 2013, the couple became the permanent guardians of her sister’s children, 8-year-old LaMia and 4-year-old Jaxson.
Having already had two children of their own, Jade, now 14, and Paige, now 13, Andrea said the family underwent a period of adjustment at first.
“It’s been a difficult transition for the kids, but we’re doing ok. It’s learning a new normal and every day is a little different and I can say since it’s been about three and a half years that things have gotten much better than they were initially in the beginning… They’re doing pretty well but the stress of my husband and I having cancer had been a major step for all of the kids,” said Andrea.
Three years later, in 2016, Andrea was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She is currently in her final stages of treatment and has been undergoing chemotherapy.
In February of 2017, Joe was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma— a cancer that starts in white blood cells called lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s immune system.
To help ease the financial strain, Oxford residents Katie Kimball, Michelle Walls, Amy Mattis, Erica Dicosmo, and Tara Bean are organizing the spaghetti dinner to benefit the family.
After the series of challenges the Sjoblom family has undergone in recent years, Kimball said the group is hoping to help in any way they can.
“They’re both battling this cancer right now and they’ve got these two kids that they’ve adopted and they just keep getting hit after hit after hit, so we really wanted to help. We want it to help them pay bills. Help with medical expenses, help with daily living utilities, and taking care of the kids. They need anything they can get right now. We’re just trying to do whatever we can to help them right now. We’re going to do this as long as they need us to,” said Kimball.
According to Andrea, many people from throughout the community have already been stepping up to provide regular meals and emotional support to the Sjoblom family.
“We’ve been so appreciative of everything. Without help, we probably would have already lost our home and, in turn, would have lost our two younger children because the court requires us to keep our residence… That’s just not an option. Everyone’s been so generous and so super helpful. ‘It takes a village’ completely means something new to me now because it has actually taken an entire village to help me get through this. Between getting the kids through school and dance class or people making us dinner and stopping by because they know we’re too sick and tired from chemo and everything else that’s going on. Everybody in this community has just been so very helpful and we can’t thank them enough.”
The spaghetti dinner will include a DJ, photo booth, and a silent auction.
Tickets to the event are $8 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.
Donations may also be made to the family through roadwarriorscorp.org/andrea-and-joe-sjoblom.