Support Whitney in her fight against cancer

My name is Lacey and I started this fund for a dear friend of mine, Whitney Bota.

Whitney is a once in a lifetime friend. She’s always thinking of others and shows she cares in the most heartfelt and meaningful ways. Whitney is the friend who listens when you’re upset, holds your hand when you’re scared, embraces you when you’re sad. She lifts you up with her positive affirmations and compassion when life gets crazy. She’s the friend you can chat with for hours and never run out of things to talk about. Whitney spreads love wherever she goes. Gregarious and warm, Whitney has a knack for connecting with everyone she meets. She truly has a gift! In any social setting, Whitney is the one to make sure everyone is having fun and no one is left out.

There really are no bad days for Whitney. She always looks at things with a glass half full attitude. She spreads positivity and joy wherever she goes. She literally has a smile on her face all the time, even when life gets challenging.

Whitney has been very open about her struggles with infertility over the last number of years. She’s been on a difficult journey, to say the least, coping with miscarriages, failed treatments, navigating different medications and the mental and physical toll this took on her body. But Whitney is not one to complain. And she is never one to back down and say “I can’t do this.” When she set her sights on something, she went out and did it. She had dreams for years of opening her own salon and of course, in true Whitney fashion, she did what needed to be done and opened her salon in 2020. It hasn’t been easy, as shortly after she opened Covid hit, and drastically altered what she envisioned her first year of business to be. Anyone else would have taken this as a sign to cut their losses and move onto something else. But not Whitney!. She took it all in stride, one day at a time, never gave up and now her salon business is booming. I’ve always admired her perseverance and resilience given everything she’s been through. I haven’t met anyone with her drive and determination, and not letting any obstacle derail her plans.

In the fall of 2022, Whitney began feeling ill, having violent coughing fits and was hit with extreme fatigue. At first, she was diagnosed with long COVID and then treated for an infection. It was soon after this she took a step back from the business she loved to focus on getting better. Not long after, she needed a blood transfusion due to low hemoglobin and spent a few days in the hospital. In yet another round of tests, the doctors detected abnormal cells during a PAP test. By December 2, she had a biopsy done and December 15 she got the call that cancer was found. It was an excruciating 6 weeks of waiting to get more thorough tests done in Edmonton to see how serious the cancer was. A couple days later, Whitney was blindsided with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Due to progression of the cancer, she started radiation treatments almost immediately in Edmonton. The plan for her is to have daily treatments for 3 weeks. Her doctor will discuss other treatment options once radiation is complete, and they can determine if the tumours have shrunk at all.

Whitney has an amazing support system in her husband of ten years, Terry and her parents, who have been along side her through her treatments in Edmonton. Due to the costs of travel, accommodations, meals and loss of income they’re experiencing, I wanted to reach out to everyone to support Whitney, Terry and their families on this journey. Let’s ensure that Whitney can be fully focused on her treatment and the road ahead by eliminating any financial burden she and Terry might experience.

When I received the text from Whitney that her biopsy test results showed cancer, I knew she was scared and anxious and just trying to reconcile what that meant. But she finished her text with “You know me, I’m sure I’ll truck through it like I do with everything else.” That’s Whitney - her tenacity and strength still apparent, even when receiving a diagnosis no one hopes to hear.

And she’s also right. Whitney will truck through this like she does everything else. So let’s help Whitney kick cancer’s ass!