|

Stitching Gratitude into Action: A Cancer Survivor’s Inspiring Story of Giving Back

critters
      Share this:

“I was looking for a way to make a difference in the lives of cancer patients and to give back for the care I received”, says Donna White, from Nanoose Bay. She sews little critters, each in their own unique outfits which she also makes, and sells them to raise funds for the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation.

Donna walked a long road to come to the point where she is able to give back. She was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer six years ago.
 
“I felt a lump after feeling unwell for several months. Then came the mammogram, quickly followed by an ultrasound and biopsy. And then it felt like my world stopped spinning.”

A radical mastectomy was performed several weeks later. She was informed by her oncologist in Victoria that four months of aggressive dose-dense chemotherapy would follow as soon as she had recovered from the surgery.

Further bad news followed: there was a possibility that the specific chemotherapy might not be available in Nanaimo. That meant that she would have to travel to Victoria for it.
 
“The thought of having to travel  back and forth for chemo caused me incredible anxiety. I was worried about travelling under winter conditions while suffering from the side effects of the therapy”.
 
Donna was extremely relieved when she found out that she could receive the four months of chemotherapy at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and closer to home.

She did have to make the journey to Victoria for the sixteen rounds of radiation that followed the chemo, but was fortunate to stay in the Canadian Cancer Society Lodge across the street from the hospital.
 
“The need for more cancer care is huge Mid-Island. We need oncologists and access to radiation therapy  here so we don’t have to travel so far from home, adding to the huge  stresses we are under with these diagnoses”, she says.
 
Donna is full of praise for the caregivers she met on her cancer journey. “One thing I can say with certainty is that the level of care I received was very high. My surgeon was kind and explained everything with compassion. The chemotherapy nurses in Nanaimo were lovely and helped to make the experience more tolerable, as were the radiation technicians in Victoria.
 
My husband, family and faith in God got me through to see the light on the other side of the tunnel.”
 
During Donna’s treatment she started to notice the kind of giving people do to show gratitude.

A lady knocked on her door one day and handed her a beautiful quilt sewn by one of the women from the Nanoose chapter of Victoria’s Quilts, a North American organization of ladies who sew and deliver them to cancer patients to keep them warm during treatments and to send a message of encouragement.
 
“The thought that someone  who did not know me did this for me, was a huge comfort,” she says.
 
This gesture, together with the encouragement from a fellow radiation patient in Victoria to dust off her sewing machine, awakened the urge in Donna to start giving back for the care she had received. She realized she could use her hobby of sewing to raise funds for cancer care. Sadly that patient has since passed away.
 
“Sewing the Caring Critters and joining the group of Nanoose women sewing quilts has become a form of therapy for me”.
 
Donna later attended a donor appreciation event of the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation and learned about all the needs in the community, and that the Foundation had a plan to address these needs.
 
“It made sense to direct my creative efforts into supporting the Foundation. I saw the impact that donations – both large and small- from the community can have. Together our donations go towards much needed equipment, refurbishments and renovations. I am excited to play a small part in trying to make the dream of a new ICU and High Acuity unit, plus new cancer unit and patient tower, become a reality.
 
If each one of us, in our own unique way, is able to contribute in some form, we can have a real impact.”

Support Cancer Care with a Caring Critter
If you would like to make a donation and receive a Caring Critter, each lovingly made by Donna, you can email her directly at donnaruthwhite@gmail.com. Each fully dressed doll takes around 7 hours of loving labour and Donna donates all proceeds to Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation. (The critters are made using a Studio Seren pattern.)