Hi Everyone .... yes it's me again looking to raise funds and for those who knew him this October 19th marks the 20th year of Mikes passing.
It isn't a great time just now to be asking people to donate I do realize but then I remind myself that it is never a good time to be diagnosed with cancer and I am sure that just within the last 12 months you will know of someone else who has been hit by this disease.
So, give me just a few precious moments please and let me draw you closer to a glimpse into a small part of the world that becomes yours when a cancer diagnosis is handed down to you or someone you love. Imagine waking up each morning like everyone else does with the anticipation of all that a new day holds!! Today, however, you remind yourself that most of your day will be spent sitting in already packed waiting rooms. These waiting rooms don?t hold the same relaxed faces that you see in your dentist or physio office. They are the tired faces, anxious faces, scared faces of people who are waiting. They are waiting for doctors, nurses, specialists, radiographers, medical clerks, volunteers. They are waiting for blood work, cat scans, MRI?s, X-rays, injections, medications, chemotherapy, radiation, transfusions, surgeries, and transplants. They are waiting for test results, biopsy reports, blood results, diagnosis, prognosis, bad news, good news, better news, and promising news. They are waiting for their name to be called. The waiting is so hard, whether you are a patient or a caregiver trying to support a loved one through that day. Some days end in smiles and relief, some days end in tears. You wait with everyone else to hear your news and the thing that binds everyone in that room apart from the disease they are battling is the hope they carry with them that today they will receive good news.
My loved one is Michael Robert Hopkins, and we sat together through countless hours of waiting and hoping. My husband, my ?gentle gentleman? fought a valiant fight against Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma with grace, dignity and humour, but sadly two years after a bone marrow transplant failed, he became another fallen soldier in the battle against cancer. He passed away on October 19th, 2005, at age 49. My two boys and I were truly blessed to have had him in our lives if even for a short while and all who knew Mike were touched by his life and his passing, such was this man.
In 2019 I lost a wonderful friend, Gilly Evans, far too early in her life to brain cancer and so I remember her along with Neville Pendleton another fallen soldier and other friends who are still in the battle... still survivors.
So that?s a small snapshot into their story and my story but how do I make it your story? Sadly, statistics are that one in three people will suffer from a form of cancer in their lives. So if you are lucky enough not to suffer from cancer you will most probably be supporting someone through it. My hope for you and yours is that one day that waiting room will be as relaxed as the Physio?s waiting room or maybe that the waiting room will not even exist!!! That?s hard to imagine but there are great success stories every day. We are hard on the heels of this enemy and it will be beaten !!!!!
I fundraise then in memory of my loved one Mike and honour the fight he engaged in to stay with us each and every day that he could. However, I am also fundraising for all our loved ones including yours. Your husband or wife, your parent or grandparent, friend, brother, sister or child, even the child you have not yet even thought of. So please take a moment to reflect .... this story could so easily become your story and if it does you will be so grateful that fundraising exists to help provide the tools to fight cancer and one day hopefully to find the answer we are all ?waiting" for.
On October 25th, 2025, I will take part in ?LIGHT THE NIGHT?. A beautiful candlelight walks which raises money for all blood cancers including Lymphoma and Leukemia. It is important to note that any and all research for an individual cancer is of value to all other cancers especially with the latest research centered on gene and immune therapy Thank you so very much for your time and please consider joining this fight today. Follow the link for ?Light the Night? in Vancouver. Go to Donate, enter my name Allison Hopkins and make a donation. Please then forward this email to everyone you know who might care to donate. Together we will save lives, make smiles and one day share stories with only happy endings. - Alli
http://lightthenight.ca/walks/vancouver/
?And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make ?
Mike Hopkins
11-1-1956 -19-10-2005
Still a guiding light
