2023-07-14 17:59:35
“We must keep hope”: this is the message that a young Quebecer wants to pass on, who will be able to realize her dream of staying with her family at Walt Disney World next week following having lived through difficult times courageously fighting cancer for five years.
The trip to Orlando, organized as part of the 40th anniversary of the Children’s Wish Foundation, will allow 40 Canadian families, including two from Quebec, to go to Walt Disney World for a week without having to worry regarding the costs.
Passionate regarding travel, Rosalie Fortin, 14, confided that she is impatient to finally be able to “realize her dream and discover the world”.
Photo courtesy of the Children’s Wish Foundation
At only 18 months, the girl from Pointe-Calumet was diagnosed with leukemia. She spent the next five years undergoing treatments with her family by her bedside.
After going through chemotherapy, losing her hair and even spending Christmas in the hospital, Rosalie calls on sick children to “stay strong and positive”.
Hope above all
If the teenager is doing much better today, she and her mother are aware that this is unfortunately not the reality of all young people with an illness.
“It was important for us to speak, because there are other parents and other children who will see this and it will perhaps help to give hope that it is possible to heal and to get out of it, ”shares his mother Julie Michelle Laberge.
Optimistic, the young girl wants to be herself a model of strength and courage when she accepted to confide and pass on a message to young people despite her embarrassment.
“Whatever happens, we can always get out of it, we have to stay positive. You should never despair and the important thing is to stay strong when things aren’t going so well”, emphasizes Rosalie.
MARTIN ALARIE / MONTREAL JOURNAL
For his mother, this escapade will be the perfect opportunity to turn the page on a painful episode in life that has not been easy.
“We will finally be able to move on. Walt Disney is part of his dream and to make this trip, it will allow us to close the loop and start a new chapter, ”she says.
A balm for parents
If the trip makes it possible to realize the dream of 40 children at the same time for the first time since the creation of the foundation, it will also make it possible to create a community of parents who will be able to support each other.
“The exchanges and discussions between the parents will really be an additional benefit of the trip,” believes Lauren Donnelly, Quebec division director for the Children’s Wish Foundation.
“Even if the illnesses are not the same, the parents all live more or less the same experience. Whether it’s anxiety, worry or stress, parents all experience these same emotions,” she adds.
An opinion shared by Julie Michelle Laberge.
“It’s important to support each other as parents. I made a lot of connections at the hospital with parents who were going through similar things. Once once more, it gives hope, because some are still in the hospital,” she concluded.
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