Love for Lily

**Please read to the end for additional non-monetary ways you can help**

Hi, my name is Liz, and I am raising funds for my dear friend, Lily Laverton. Lily is one of the most kind and giving people I have ever met. She has routinely given her time and skills to multiple community organizations, with her last adventure seeing her being heavily involved in Toastmasters. Lily will go out of her way to help a friend, stranger, or animal at a moment's notice. She has been the most amazing and involved mom to her daughter, Sam, who lives with her while attending SFU.

In late 2023, Lily discovered a lump, which turned her life into a series of appointments, follow ups, tests, and scans. Sadly, in early 2024 Lily heard the words that everyone fears: “you have cancer.” She was scheduled for a lumpectomy and booked a few weeks off work, using up her holiday time, to recuperate. Unfortunately, Lily was not able to return to work due to the need for an additional surgery as the cancer had spread. As part of a clinical trial, she has recently undergone twenty radiation sessions and has started hormone therapy.

Ongoing complications from her breast cancer treatments have left her exhausted and depleted. While she is expected to recover, she is dealing with awful side effects. These side effects limit Lily's ability to complete daily living tasks such as cleaning, driving, and cooking.

As she has been unable to work for over 6 months, her bills still need to be paid. Plus, she now has the additional cost of paying for her own extended health coverage. All money raised will go to day to day living costs. As anyone who has dealt with cancer knows, the treatment is free, but cancer is expensive.

Lily has always stepped forward to support others and now it is time to do the same for her. We understand that times are tough right now, and not everyone may be able to contribute financially, however there are many ways to support Lily and Sam. A few ideas she has suggested are: vacuuming stairs and other housekeeping, dropping off a meal (no soy please), driving her to appointments or to run errands around town, tea dates, and texts/calls to check in. Sam needs to practice driving as her driving test is later this year. Sam has use of Lily’s car but needs a driver with her as she practices. Items that would be helpful and appreciated are nonperishable foods (no soy please), toiletries, cat litter and cat food. Additionally, they would accept your empty bottles and cans to take to the bottle depot.

You can also share this GoFundMe with your community to get the word out.

Thank you so much for your support for Lily and Sam at this difficult time. As some of you may know, it is incredibly difficult for her to ask for help. She was very reluctant to allow me to set this up for her, however I have watched her struggle, and she could use all the help and support her community can offer. Many thanks again, it means more than you could know.