As many of you may be aware, Shelly’s daughter Chantal passed away at age 20 in October of 2008 after a two and a half year battle with brain cancer.  Chantal’s battle began in May of 2006 when she was first diagnosed.  At that time, Shelly took a leave of absence from work to care for her.  It was by depleting the family’s savings and RRSP’s as well as with the help of family and friends that Shelly and her family made it through that first stretch until Chantal’s cancer went into remission in 2007. However in January of 2008, her cancer came back but she was able to keep it in check relatively well for several months until it began to really take hold severely later that June.  During the last five months of Chantal’s life, she required full time assistance as well as an intense regimen of chemotherapy.  Shelly wanted and needed to be with her every step of the way.  This meant Shelly had to leave her job and thus her family’s income was cut in nearly half.  In the meantime, the type of chemo Chantal required was not covered by any medical plan, private or public.  This amounted to thousands of dollars every month for which Chantal’s family could not afford.

With the unimaginable support of family, friends, co-workers, and total strangers, Chantal’s family were given the financial support needed to cover ALL the costs of her treatments, any special assistive devices she required, as well as enough funds to replace Shelly’s income while she was off work so that the bills could be paid and they could keep food on the table.

The type of fundraising done was ongoing bottle drives, dances, silent auctions, as well as thousands of dollars in private donations.  It was very overwhelming and the Dubois family is forever grateful.

This is the reason the Dubois family has set up a fund in Chantal’s memory.  This fund will be used to help other families who may go through similar circumstances when a child has cancer and a parent needs to be with them through their fight.  The fund has already helped others.  To help maintain the fund, Shelly is setting aside three dollars from the sale of every CD and forty percent of download revenues for the fund. 

Although a huge amount of the financial support we received was from the wonderful people of the Peace Country in northern Alberta, many people on Vancouver Island came to our aid as well.  With that being said, at the Dubois Family discretion, the funds may be used to help any family in any area.  A family in need must get the help they need no matter where they live.  It’s the right thing to do.

On behalf of the Dubois Family, Shelly, Jean and Aleida, we thank you all in advance for your kind generosity.  We hope this fund can help make a difference to families that need it.