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For Emily Bennett, life is a bit different than for others her age.
The 18-year-old lives with stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Bennett receives her treatment at Boundary Trails Health Centre (BTHC) in the Pembina Valley. She says that for now, she is finished with chemotherapy after completing her round in January.
She’s waiting to see if radiation will be necessary.
While no one would fault Bennett for concentrating all her energy on the incredible challenge of fighting cancer, she has instead looked to helping others with a special project.
A few months ago, she set out to acquire new chairs for BTHC’s cancer care unit — not just any chairs, but a very special type that heats and provides extra comfort to cancer patients during treatment.
Bennett’s experience as a patient gave her firsthand experience of the benefits of this type of chair.
“It gets cold when you're sitting in the infusion chair for hours, and while there are heated blankets, they can only hold heat for so long,” she says. “This will just keep the heat constant, especially during things like blood transfusions, because you’re super cold. It’s beneficial to a lot of patients like me who often have trouble regulating their temperature thanks to their treatments.”
‘It all started during my hospitalization’
For Bennett, the idea for the project came when she was in the hospital in Winnipeg.
“They had these heated chairs that we just kind of fell in love with, and my mom and I thought, ‘Why does [BTHC] not have these? This would benefit so many people,’” she says.
What followed was a grant proposal to Morden Thrift Shop for $45,000.
Soon after, it was approved.
“The chairs were ordered, and they arrived here last month, I believe,” says Bennett. “So far, I think people are liking them.”
For nurse Lindsay McLaren, the chairs add a layer of comfort for those who use them.
“When we received this grant for these chairs, it very much impacted our patient experience ... in the unit. It's just a little bit extra comfort that we can provide for our patients while they're here receiving their treatments,” she says, noting that the centre received ten chairs in total.
“As Emily said, they have the massage and the heat. The patients very much so enjoy the heat.”
McLaren says that the cancer care unit at BTHC performs about 200 treatments a month. The length of the appointments varies from short dressing changes to 6-8 hours of sitting in a chair.
Caring for patients in vulnerable moments
Given the number of people receiving treatment at BTHC and the length of some of their treatments, McLaren is thankful to the Morden Thrift Shop for its donation and to the community that supports it.
It shows care for patients in their most vulnerable moments.
“It is a lot of people that we see, unfortunately, but the community support ... is a great way to show love and support for family and friends,” she says.
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Shannon Samatte-Folkett, the executive director of the Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation, calls her organization “fortunate” to have a thrift shop that it is so passionate about offering support.
“They [donate at] spring and fall, so we make sure that we are thoughtful about our requests. This was one that was extremely thoughtful and beneficial for a huge amount of people in our community,” she says.
“We really do believe it's important to listen to the community members and what they want, and this particular project came straight from the community, [so] we're really blessed to be able to help fulfill this and that it will touch so many lives in the Pembina Valley.”
Thanks to the community
Joan Mikolasek, the treasurer of Morden Community Thrift Shop, says that the community’s generosity allows it to do what it does.
“We are very thankful for all the donations that we get to be able to support things like this and we were more than happy to give them the money that they requested for the heated chairs,” she says.
“We support a lot of medical [centres], regardless where it is, whether it's at the hospital or the clinic — that's one of our priorities,” she says. “Everybody's touched with cancer somewhere, somehow.”
‘Emily is the future’
As for Bennett, thanks to whom the chair project was started, Samatte-Folkett says she “knew what was needed.”
“Emily is the future,” she says. “Her heart is in the right place, and we listened, and we will learn from her. I'm really happy that she brought this project forward to us and I look forward to more things from Emily in the future.”
The chairs are another win for Bennett, aside from how she’s feeling these days.
“I'm feeling very, very good overall, health-wise and self-esteem [wise] .... I'm very proud to have been part of the process that got these chairs in this room in this building,” she says.
“[Cancer treatment] is an incredibly, incredibly hard road to travel, and if I can help make it easier for even a handful of people, I will have made a legacy worthwhile.”
To learn more about cancer care at BTHC, click here.
With files from Robyn Wiebe