Marie-Josée Paquin's testimony

That’s what I said to my father the last time we got on a hospital elevator together. The previous fall, he had been so proud to see my picture pop up all over the place as part of the Foundation’s campaign. Now he was experiencing for himself just how important these donations are to patients.

Spotting my face on the walls of the hospital kept his hope alive. He went into the ER in January 2021 for a cough he couldn’t seem to shake. We weren’t really worried at that point. With the pandemic in full force, my mother had to wait for us in the car while I went in with him, first to the ER, then to radiology. Little did we know what was awaiting us.

I’m a medical imaging technical coordinator. When I see something wrong on screen, it’s never easy. And when I saw my father’s lungs, I lost it. The diagnosis was confirmed a few weeks later: stage 4 lung cancer.

I stood by his side for 10 months as he fought the disease, experiencing what many of our patients go through as they navigate one appointment, and one uncertainty, after another. We saw for ourselves how your donations make a difference. The whole “profoundly human” concept became even more meaningful to us: it’s about you, it’s about me, it’s about my father, it’s about all our patients.

My father’s brave battle came to an end on November 6, 2021. He passed away in HIS hospital — the hospital that is also MINE, the one I’ve been working at for 15 years. The one where my second family is. The one where so many dramas are played out, and so many hopes are rekindled.

We are all part of this incredible movement. Thank you for being there, too, and for giving so generously.

Marie-Josée Paquin