A Survivor’s Story
All cancer survivors have a story – Hearing about a journey from a survivor helps give inspiration to others. This is a story about – breast cancer survivor’s journey that inspired her to help others.
Chantal was diagnosed on October 31 2018 with breast Cancer, stage 3 her surgery was December 11th 2018.
Dianne Butler a retired teacher & a friend of the Rachar’s family reached out to Chantal. Dianne was a breast cancer survivor who decided to help other breast cancer survivors, by supporting them through their cancer survival journey by doing acts of kindness. Dianne was a pillar of support for Chantal during the early days after her surgery – brought flowers, soup, & always had time to listen.
Dianne had started a group of breast cancer survivors living in Oxford County, called ABC Gals & invited Chantal to join. These meetings were held once a month at lunch time, they were gatherings where support & love was on the menu.
Chantal returned to work duties in Sept 2019 & discovered she would not be able to make the once a month meeting of ABC Gals, to her great disappointment. Chantal had also discovered on her return to work that one of the resident’s was also a breast cancer survivor. The shared each other’s journey of survival, which included the ABC Gals group. The resident expressed her desire to be a part of the ABC Gals group, but she would only be able to attend if the meetings were close and not in the evenings. Chantal decided to help make this the desire come to fruition, by approaching her GM & see if Harvest Crossing could be used as a location for an evening meeting once a month for the group. Which was greeted with, of course it could be used for a meeting location. Dianne Butler was delighted with the news of the location, with news of evening meetings, as this would be a more convenient time for many, plus Chantal would now be able to attend, as would a resident.
Chantal is happy & doing just wonderfully with the support of family, friends & the ABC Gals group.