Thursday, the day of the benefit, started out as a not-so-good day. On Wednesday, I had an appointment at the hospital which always take a long time and wipe me out. Not to mention, my hips were dislocating left, right, and centre so I was pretty sore after that excursion. When I woke up the next Thursday, after a night of interrupted sleep, I was in pain and tired and nauseous. Overall, let’s be honest here, I was not in the mood to be human that day.

I tried all my usual tactics to try and ease my symptom: pain medication, nausea medication, taking a nap, meditating, but none of these seemed to do the trick. However, I was determined to get to the event. The tickets had sold out so I knew there’d be a lot of people so I needed to be there to show my gratitude. With the help of my mom and sister, I got all dressed up, they did my hair and makeup, and off we went!

The event was so beautiful and overwhelming in the best way possible. When I rolled in, I was shocked by what I saw. There was so many people! I knew that we sold out but it was much more than I was expecting. So many people took the time out of their evening to come offer their support. It was awesome. Everyone seemed to really be enjoying themselves. From the silent auction, to the photo booth, to just chit-chatting, the guests seemed to have a great time. I was so disappointed that, with so many people being there, I didn’t have the chance to speak to nearly everyone! I so wanted to say “hi” and thank everyone individually for coming.

After about two hours of everyone hanging out, it was time for the evening to come to an end. John and Christine called my family up onto the stage and presented us with the cheque telling us the grand total of the night. When I saw the number, I was absolutely floored. I never expected to have received that much money but, even more importantly, I never expected there to be so many people who wanted to come out and support me. I was (and still am overwhelmed) by all the love and generosity that could be felt in Lily Lake Pavillion that night.

I had written a speech for the event but wasn’t sure whether I would do it since I really wasn’t feeling great. In the end, I was so overcome by gratitude that I had to say thank you. I’m pleased to report that, as I intended, there weren’t very many dry eyes in the room, including my own! It was just such a special night.

For all those of you I didn’t get to speak to and thank already, I just wanted to say a huge thank you. To those I’ve already thanked, I want to say thank you again. There is no words to express how grateful I am for all of you. I really just can’t say thank you enough. It was beautiful seeing the community come together to support me in my battle. Saint John surely is an amazingly caring city.