Best Christmas Ever: emotional surprise for Northland family

One Northland family was surprised with bags of gifts and a number of donations Sunday evening as a part of the Best Christmas Ever campaign.

Mike Anderson was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, just one year into his marriage with his wife Jen. The life expectancy for that disease is 15 months.

The Andersons chose to fight the cancer and did so successfully. However this year the cancer returned at stage four.

With Mike’s future unknown, they are resiliently choosing to fight the cancer again. With treatment expenses on top of their life expenses, they say they are so thankful for the surprise they received Sunday evening.

"There have been a lot more downs than ups so to answer the door to this tonight is something that this family will never forget," said Jen Anderson while holding their young daughter, Emmie. "To have this little girl get an exciting, special Christmas that she probably wouldn’t have had means the world to us."

The organizers of the event saying reasons like that are exactly why they do this.

"It’s been an amazing, fulfilling experience to help surprise the family and give them the best Christmas ever in situations that would have made it hard to do for themselves," said organizer Lizzie Strickland.

"It’s just been a cool experience and it really shows how close the community can get together to give people good moments. It really just brings back the kindness and humanity we all have."

So far, $6,300 dollars have been raised for the Andersons. There are still four more days to donate to the family and anyone interested in helping can contribute on their donation page.