December 24th is both Christmas Eve and my brother Darren's birthday. He chose that day to tell the family that he and his high school girlfriend Cat were engaged. This engagement was a long time coming as they've been together for ten years and just bought a condo. Still, we were all really happy for them and my mom started planning an engagement party while they started planning a wedding.
All those plans were cancelled a few months later. Cat saw her doctor about a lump on her neck. He confirmed it was cancer but suspected it was a mild type because she wasn't showing the common symptoms. Shortly thereafter, she was told it was Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This is not a mild cancer at all, she was just showing unusually mild symptoms. So while she should have been shopping for a wedding dress, she was instead shaving her head and preparing for months in a hospital bed.
She has gotten through the worst of it for now. They haven't set a new date for the wedding but she is home now and the doctor's visits should be getting less frequent. Meanwhile, Darren has decided to bike from Montreal to Quebec City -over 250 km- as part of a fundraising event. He needs to raise $5000 to participate.
Here is his personal page.
I am turning this over to my friends online to see if anyone has a few extra dollars they can donate to his cause. I know times are tough and not everyone is working right now. But if anyone has any money put aside for charity donations, this is as noble a cause as you can find.
