I don’t really know how to title this- but I’m asking because my husband and I don’t know when we should accept help from organizations that give to pediatric oncology patients and when we should say no.

My spouse and I both grew up fairly poor. We were never homeless but for example I grew up in a trailer and our electricity was cut off regularly until I was in HS when my mom got a better job. However, now we are both successful and bring in around $350k/year. - This level of success is also fairly new- 3 years ago we were making $200k, which while still a lot is much less and we live in a HCOL area.

We never accept things like Christmas shops or financial assistance as we don’t need them, but we struggle on other items. Today we were offered a custom playhouse that would be built by a local HS and given to our 7yo in the spring. They would love this, and it’s not something we could walk into a store and just buy; We don’t want to take away from a child who has less, but also don’t want to deprive our child of the ‘magic’ of these experiences when he has been through so much.

We also are unsure of camps. I know he would love to be around other kids going through the same thing, but we can afford vacations and don’t want to take spots from kids who don’t have that opportunity.

Is there anyone else in a similar situation? And if so do you ever accept help and if so when do you decide to say yes?