Once again I am signed up the Gaetane Harvey Memorial Walk. Our walk will be on Saturday, September 23rd and Sunday, September 24th, 2023 and we will be walking 53 kms. Our team name is "Rendezvous III" (after the Mom & Rick's boat of course!) We started this walk two year as it felt "right". It feels meant to be for me & my family and here's why:

• This walk was created to honour the loss of Gaetane Harvey who battled cancer. A 53K walk, 1K for each year she walked this Earth. My mother Sue Howard was also 53 years when she lost her very short battle with lung cancer in the month of September 2016. Same disease + same age + a walk happening during the month we lost my Mom, September.

• In addition to losing my mother, I also lost my father to cancer when we was only 33 years old. Last year I officially outlived my father. That sure is a hard pill to swallow. It is very hard to articulate my feelings on his lost battle to cancer knowing that this year I will surpass his age. I was only 8 years old when he had lost his battle to pancreatic cancer. I naively felt that 33 years old, although earlier than most adults live obviously, it felt like he was alive a good chunk of time. He had lived a good chunk of life. Now approaching 33 years old myself I realize just HOW MUCH of life he didn't get to experience and have such a different perspective of just how much he missed out on with his young children.

​

All funds raised from this walk will go directly to
• Supporting cancer care in various departments at BGH (ex: Diagnostic Imaging, OR/Surgical, Pharmacy, Lab)
• The Dr. Douglas A. MacIntosh Oncology Clinic at Belleville General Hospital

This September will be 7 years since my Mom lost her battled to cancer. I would be thrilled if our team could raise $3,500 to honour her and give back to our local community's oncology centre.

To make a donation online, visit the attached link below to donate. You can always make donations with cheques payable to:

Belleville General Hospital Foundation

265 Dundas St E

Belleville, ON

K8N 5A9 

613-969-7400 Ex. 2061

By making a donation you are helping those who continue their fight, those who have survived and honouring loved ones who have passed.