There’s something about finding your people. The ones who understand without needing to explain. The ones who show up on a Wednesday night even when they’re tired, because they know you’ll be there too.

Kerry found her people at The Wesley Hospital Choices Cancer Support Centre.

Before she passed away late last year, she discovered something precious there: a community that understood, Wednesday nights that mattered, and a sense of control when everything else felt uncertain.

When ovarian cancer arrived in August 2019 — sudden, shocking, with no obvious warning. Kerry lost something she hadn’t expected to lose. Not just her health, but her sense of self. “You go from being a confident, outgoing person one moment to a frightened one in a matter of minutes,” she said.

“Choices was a safe haven and lifesaver for Kerry,” her sister Carol says. “She met friends there who understood what she was going through in a way that’s hard to find anywhere else.”

Kerry had always been active. She was determined to stay that way. At Choices, she joined the gym program — one designed specifically for people going through cancer treatment.

An exercise physiologist at every session. A community that welcomed everyone — women and men — facing cancer. And Wednesday nights that became everything.

An excuse to get out, to exercise, to laugh, to feel like yourself again when so much felt unfamiliar.

“Being able to maintain my fitness gave me a sense of control over my life that I felt I’d lost after my diagnosis,” Kerry explained.

Your support makes programs like this possible. These welcome anyone impacted by cancer. The space where people can rebuild not just their strength, but their sense of self.

Kerry didn’t just receive support at Choices — she gave it back. She started putting together the Choices Newsletter, helping others navigate their own cancer experience.

“She wasn’t doing it for glory,” Carol says. “She said was doing it for the people behind her.”

What Kerry found at Choices, and what she helped others find, lives on through friendships. The sense of control when everything feels uncertain. The laughter in the gym. The community that understands.

Thank you for making programs like Choices possible. For creating a space where people facing cancer can find their people. For honouring Kerry’s passion for helping others through their own cancer experience.

Because of your generosity, someone will walk into Choices today and find exactly what Kerry found: a community waiting with open arms.