Contributed by Tanya Secord
With such a tight knit community, many of you may have already heard the heartbreaking story of Kendra Wiberg (Brown). She is a woman with dynamic energy, lives a healthy lifestyle and has an incredible zest for life, but is sadly deteriorating quickly. She was raised in Revelstoke (4th generation Revelstokian) and graduated from RSS in 1994. Although she lives in Kamloops now with her husband Larry, and two beautiful daughters, (Madison aged 5 and Sierra aged 3) she has many friends and family still here in Revelstoke (Sister – Rhonda Schmidt and Grandmother – Maxine Brown).
Kendra was diagnosed with a rare ovarian cancer 13 years ago – she fought it and won. Now, she has been diagnosed with kidney cancer and also a very rare form of cancer that only 0.12 in a million will get. Although it is terminal, her fight has not ended. Kendra is just beginning chemotherapy in an effort to prolong her life as long as possible. Hopefully the treatments allow her to spend one more Christmas and see her daughters turn 4 and 6.
Once Kendra reached the point of acceptance her main goal became making the most of the time that she has with her family. Her friends launched a campaign to raise as much money as they could to send Kendra and her family to Disneyland – the land of Magic – to make beautiful memories for her girls! Kendra is putting together what she calls “Legacy Boxes.” They will be filled with letters, birthday cards for their birthdays to come, small presents and photos in a hopes they will remember her and that she can always be with her girls as they grow older.
This campaign that has been put in motion is driven by her dream trip but also to raise money to help elevate some of the burden of the medical expenses and to also have a little put aside so her husband Larry will be able to be home with the girls for a bit when Kendra can no longer be with them.
It is a story that has touched many people because as a parent you couldn’t possibly imagine not being there to raise your children. This could be anyone of us. The support has been truly amazing. Kendra has at times been speechless with the overwhelming support that has been sent their way. She feels the love and positive energy. Kendra has said “that if anything good can come of this is that everyone know to hold their babies a little tighter and love their families that much deeper and enjoy every day as a gift.”
There are several donation boxes around Revelstoke that you may contribute to: Pharmasave, Nomad, Revelstoke Florist, Carrie’s Café, Conversations, Malone’s, Peoples, Emos, CIBC, Royal Bank, Revelstoke Credit Union and Home Hardware.
As time is of the essence, there is an event planned for February 21 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Cooper’s Foods. There will be hot dogs as well as a Prize Wheel Raffle. It is a Pro-D for the kids so bring them down for hotdogs and a spin of the wheel to help support this family.
You can also go to www.gofundme.com/kendras-trip