Just this past weekend, I had a great friend drop by. Her name is Jen. She is truly one of a kind, and life has brought us together in the funniest of ways. It seems that whenever I am in need of a little boost, she sweeps into my life and just lifts my spirits. Not that I get down often, but sometimes in life it is easy to get lost in the day to day things and forget the drive and what really motivates us.
My family and I have been attending a camp called Gracefield, in Quebec for as long as I can remember. Jen was a camp counselor when I was a wee little one. She was there and watched all of us Campbell minions grow up.
She left and was no longer working at the camp when I was about 15, on occasion, I would see her at camp when she would come visit.
When I moved to Toronto to wait for a pair of lungs, can you guess who was living in Oakville? Jen! She was there and came to visit me often. She not only was a remarkable friend in those times, a support for my mother and me, but also made me feel so comfortable. She reminded me of camp, how much I value life, nature and all its beauty.
This past Sunday, she brought me a book and said “Hélène, I want you to read this book. It is called ‘Love Does’.” We went on an adventure, picked up some Kettlemans Bagels. (If you are ever in Ottawa, check this place out! Delicious bagels, made there, on Bank Street open 24 hrs…haha).
She took the book and started reading a chapter out loud. I was inspired by every sentence I heard. Bob, the author, is a true believer in how Love inspires us to action. He describes situations where his love for things has impacted the situations in his life. Man, I don’t know about you, but that is certainly something I feel so strongly about.
I have always been told I was silly, and thought of cray cray things, but it is our love of things that inspire us to do things and achieve results. My passion to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation was real, and resulted in Justin Bieber tweets, and some awesome pairs of Ellen Underwear. Not to mention dancing with some of the greatest people ever. When someone shows love and passion for something, it inspires others to be passionate too!
When I was waiting for lungs, my former high school Teacher, Mr Langlois, organized a fundraiser for my family. He called it Bands For Breath.
Not only is he a clever guy, he is also a talented musician; part of a local band called Rukus. He has always had a heart for helping others out.
His love of these two things inspired him to help my family offset the costs while waiting for a transplant. Together, his band organized a fantastic event in Ottawa that had a great turn out. I could not attend because I was in ICU recovering from the surgery, but I watched the DVD and was in awe of everything. He had dedicated so much time to this cause, to my family, for me... A former student who probably talked way too much in class…
We met for breakfast about 9 months ago and he told me he wanted to organize another Bands for breath this year, to help families in the same situation as mine. I was blown away! He did it to encourage people to be Organ, Tissue, Blood, and Bone Marrow Donors. He and many bands put on a great show, and held a fundraiser to help the Give2Live campaign. The event raised over $4500!
Thank you so much Mr Langlois!
There are so many others out there making things like this happen, share your stories of what people are doing or what you would feel like doing to help the Give2Live Campaign and help other families undergoing the same things that we went through.
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dededos
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