“The ad made me cry”

March 11, 2022

Foundation donor rallies support

Cory Juan

“At 79, I feel good and my cancer is under close surveillance. I try to keep a positive attitude,” says Cory Juan.

It was a perfect storm of emotion for 79-year-old Cory Juan one Saturday morning this past August as she flipped through the pages of the Winnipeg Free Press. Her eyes caught a Health Sciences Centre Foundation ad and tears started to roll down her cheeks.

“The ad made me cry,” says Juan. “The word ‘health’ jumped off the page and I was overcome by emotion. I found myself remembering my first job after I arrived in Canada in 1974—it was in dietary services at HSC. I found myself thinking about the stress my daughter was facing as an intensive care nurse at HSC during COVID. And I found myself thinking about my ongoing cancer journey which included a successful liver operation in 2018 at HSC where the people were so kind and the care was so excellent.”

The newspaper ad encouraged donations to the Foundation’s COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund which would be used to purchase additional equipment for the hospital.

Juan’s tears stopped flowing; her determination started growing. She knew in that moment that she needed to do something. She needed to contribute to the fund as an act of gratitude, as an act of support for patients and frontline health care workers, and as an act of community.

She immediately gathered all the loonies and twonies she and her husband had in their condominium. “It added up to $200, but I wanted to do more. So, I called friends and neighbours and ended up raising $1,000 pretty quickly,” says Juan. “It felt good to do something positive during the pandemic!”

Juan and her husband have in fact been doing many positive things during the pandemic. She has been careful with contacts as her cancer remains under surveillance, but that has not stopped her from phoning people and having online video calls to stay in touch, and enjoying the occasional outdoor visit in her Seven Oaks neighbourhood. She listens to music, she walks outside, and she exercises using soup cans as dumbbells.

“We have embraced technology, and we like to connect with friends and family,” she says. “My husband likes to try to make people laugh; I encourage people to stay fit and enjoy the simple things, like a beautiful sunrise. At 79, I feel good and my cancer is under close surveillance. I try to keep a positive attitude. Prayer and meditation are my armour.”

 

To support Cory Juan’s fundraising efforts, and to learn how you can set up your own third-party fundraiser for the HSC Foundation, please call 204-515-5612 or 1-800-679-8493 (toll-free).

 

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Cory Juan on February 11, 2024. We feel privileged to have met her, and our heartfelt condolences goes out to Cory’s loved ones.

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