Please help Darlene Paquette kick cancer’s butt! Again!

Darlene Paquette moved to Brandon in 1988, and here she met and married her husband Pete in 2003. I met Darlene many years ago through our work at Brandon University. Over the years I’ve learned how caring, resilient, and giving Darlene is. She’s been extremely actively volunteering in her community for decades (a fact recognized by her being honoured with the 2010 YMCA Women of Distinction Award and the 2011 BU Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Community Service), and is always quick to offer a hand to friends in need. As many of you know, Darlene has recently received a cancer diagnosis. This is her THIRD time battling cancer - she had an aggressive kidney cancer when she was 6, then breast cancer 2 years ago, and now colon cancer.

Anyone who has been seriously ill knows how stressful and exhausting this time is. I firmly believe that investing all your energy toward your recovery is both mentally and physically beneficial. Our kind, giving, mini powerhouse needs to be able to put herself first in the coming weeks.

After surgery next week (April 11), Darlene is facing a minimum of 6-8 weeks of recovery and several medical appointments in Winnipeg. Her previous breast cancer diagnosis resulted in two surgeries, radiation treatments, and several follow up appointments. This has exhausted all of her sick time benefits. With no sick time left, and no short-term disability available to her, the time away from work in the coming weeks will be without pay. While she hopes to collect medical EI during her recovery, that benefit is only 55% of her wage. If chemo is needed she’ll need additional time off work.

When a friend, colleague, or family member faces serious illness it can be difficult to know how to help. Any donation you are able to give will go directly towards the costs noted above and ensure Darlene has the time she needs to properly and fully recover. Darlene and her husband Pete deserve to have some peace of mind right now and we can actually help with that!

Darlene also wants to remind you to get your routine cancer screening tests! Although the ‘fun in a jug’ isn’t all that much fun, it was a simple routine colonoscopy test that caught her cancer.

Whether you are able to donate at this time or not, it would be most helpful if you could share this with others by posting to Facebook, through email, or by other means.

Thank you and best wishes,

Lisa