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Garage sale to send cancer patient to Disney World

July 9, 2014   ·   0 Comments

If you could help a friend with a terminal illness accomplish something on their bucket list, would you do whatever you could to help them do it? For Mary, an Orangeville resident and college student the answer to that question was a no-brainer.

When one of her college friends was diagnosed with brain cancer for the second time in her life, and then told they couldn’t treat her, it changed things drastically.

“She was first diagnosed in high school, and then was told during her second year of college that she has it again,” explained Mary. “Her treatment was causing more adverse affects than benefits, so the doctors didn’t want to continue it. They told her to do what makes her happy, which doesn’t really sound like the best prognosis.”

She added that as a friend, it was really terrifying, because they don’t know how much time they have left with her and didn’t want to ask. Despite receiving such devastating news, Mary’s friend has continued to surprise her with her outlook.

“She’s really remained so positive in all of this,” said Mary. “She’s still making plans for school next year, and talking about how she wants me to spend the summer with her in Europe.”

One thing that had always been on her friend’s radar was a trip to Disney World. According to Mary, their group of friends are big-time Disney fans, and it was something they had wanted to do.

“If I have the power to help her do these things, and these are the things she wants to do, then why not?” she said.

“It’s something that I can do as her friend, and help her make those memories during the time she has left, then it’s something that I’m going to do.”

As most people know however, a trip to Disney is expensive. Mary started brainstorming and decided that the best way to proceed would be to host a fundraiser for the trip.

“My mom came up with the idea to have a garage sale,” said Mary. “We needed something that we could do quickly and would be simply to organize in a short time-frame because we don’t really know what kind of time-frame we are looking at.”

She originally posted an advertisement about the garage sale on the Another One’s Treasures in Orangeville Facebook page and saw an immediate response, both on some of the items as well as people who wanted to donate.

“It’s incredible that we live in a community where people are willing to get behind you for a good cause,” said Mary. “When someone is in need, we’ve seen it over and over again in the past where the community has just been so incredibly supportive.”

She added that she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to tell her friend about this, because she isn’t the type of person that likes to have people do things for her.

“She doesn’t want to do things just because she has cancer, and she doesn’t want that to be the reason she’s afforded these things,” said Mary. “But I’m not going to let that stop me from helping her. I just won’t tell her where the money came from.”

One of the biggest reasons she wants to be able to give this trip to her friend is because of the type of person this friend has been to everyone around her.

“My friend is just such an amazing person, and I want to do everything I can to help ,” said Mary. “She has always done and still does so much for other people, so now it’s our turn to do something for her.”

The garage sale will be held this Saturday (July 12) from 7 a.m. to 12 noon at 223 Walsh Crescent in Orangeville. Anyone wishing to donate items, money or find out more information can contact Mary at 226-821-0619.

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