Madeline

Honouring our Mom’s Life

Our mom was originally diagnosed in 2016 with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) which can be a precursor for Leukemia. She did chemo treatments but was diagnosed with AML Leukemia in December 2017 and passed away September 19th 2018. Some of the challenges we faced were learning a lot of new medical terms and how the medical system worked. We gained knowledge of what ideal numbers were for her blood count. Based on that, we would know if she was getting close to needing a blood transfusion. We also found it a bit of a struggle to hear information that was not so encouraging. It is important to be positive but sometimes it was hard to hear the information that was being given to us. The chemo schedule was quite regimented which made it a bit of a challenge as our mom really enjoyed time at the cottage. Due to the type of treatment that was needed, it required our mom to be hospitalized for 2-6 weeks multiple times during the 10 months she was sick with Leukemia. Our family is very close knit, and we couldn't be together as we normally would and it took away from important life events for our mom including the birth of two grand babies and some birthday milestones.

Light the Night is a really great opportunity to honour our mom and all those fighting, or who have fought blood cancer. It's another opportunity for us as a family to talk about our mom and bring up memories especially for her grandchildren. For two of them, they were under 1 year old when we lost her. This allows us to make her the focus so she continues to be an active part of their lives even though she's not here with us. Each year during the event, we see people we know which is again nice to feel we are not alone in the loss of our mom. One year, one of the amazing nurses from the Oncology unit that cared for my mom, was part of the walk. My mom really loved that nurse so it was great catching up with her and seeing her participate in the walk as well.

It would be a dream come true to find a cure because of the money raised for research through the Light the Night walk. That way nobody’s loved ones or family members would have to experience this awful cancer.