Donate in memory of Mireille McAllister (Nee Morency)

Hi, my name is Mimi, and I am fundraising in honour of my late mother, Mireille.

My mother passed away in August of 2024 from Small Cell Lung Cancer that had spread to her brain. Mum was diagnosed in December 2023, just 3 days before Christmas. It was a very rough time for our family. Mum underwent surgery in February 2024 to remove about 20% of her lung and began chemotherapy treatment a few weeks after her recovery from surgery. Things were looking good after the first few rounds of chemo, and we thought mum had a strong chance of recovery. It wasn’t until her last two rounds of chemo that things started to take a downturn. Mum lost a lot of weight, she could barely keep any food down, she lost her hair, but that was to be expected, and then suddenly things changed even more drastically. Mum could barely walk or talk anymore; she needed help with all her basics of living. We took her to the hospital a few times when things started to turn. At first, they thought it was just dehydration, but we pushed for more testing, and at that point, they found that her cancer had spread to her brain. We were all devastated. Mum had been doing so well early on in her recovery, and now we were being told that her cancer had spread and there was nothing that could be done. Mum was admitted to the hospital in July and passed away on August 16th, 2024.

Throughout the time that mum was in the hospital, my dad, Daryl, stayed by her side. He was there everyday, helping the nurses in any way he could to help take care of mum. He was her rock during this time, especially helping with feeding her, and making sure she was as comfortable as possible during these last few weeks.

We are planning to hold a celebration of life in honour of my mum soon, but this is where you come in. Because mum’s cancer spread as quickly as it did, she did not have the opportunity to save for her end-of-life expenses, and it has fallen on my dad to cover those costs, which have not been easy on him. He had to dip into his retirement funds just to help pay for her cremation. So now, on his behalf I am asking for your help. We would like to host a celebration of life but lack the funds to do so.

We are looking to cover the costs of renting a venue, and catering, as well as to get a memorial plaque for when we finally lay my mum’s remains to rest after the celebration of life. I would also like to use any additional funds to cover the cost of laying mum to rest, and possibly to help bring my sister and her family over from Perth, Australia to say goodbye to mum, and join us at the celebration of life.

We have not set a date for the celebration of life yet, as we would very much like Candice and her family to be present with us as we celebrate our beloved mother.

So on behalf of our family, My dad, Daryl, my sister, Candice, my brother, Eric, and myself, we all want to say thank you for any support you are able to give us, and we will be sure to update everyone when a date has been chosen for the celebration of life.

We are eternally grateful for any donations, but sharing is also extremely helpful! Thank you all!