Jacqueline Guévin - di Stasio: A volunteer with a big heart

I truly admire Jacqueline. She has played such a meaningful role in my life.

When I first met her, I was going through a tough time. I had just left my hometown to stay at the Quebec Cancer Foundation in Montreal for several weeks. I was getting ready to undergo radiation therapy. The cancer I had fought years before had returned and wreaked havoc in my life once again.

During this rather bleak period of my life, I sometimes felt lonely, vulnerable and overwhelmed. When Jacqueline invited me to join the coffee get-togethers – a weekly meeting she hosted for people living with cancer – I took her up on her generous offer and never looked back.

That’s when I had the chance to get to know a truly amazing person. She is exceptional. Her warm smile, cheerful disposition and ability to really listen brought so much joy, happiness and laughter to my life. For a few hours at a time, I was able to forget the hardship I was facing.

Every Tuesday, she would bring pastries and a few homemade treats and we would chat about  travel, food, outings…anything but cancer and its burdens. It was magical! She had a knack for helping us forget our problems – even if just for a little while.

She helped me take a break from it all, have fun and even be a better person. I learned to be more attentive to myself and to others and generally more content with life’s little pleasures, such as chatting about this and that with a friendly group of people and sharing with them my experience and feelings.

Meeting her changed my life. I still get all chocked up when I think about those gatherings and how helpful they were. They gave me comfort, greater confidence and a restored sense of hope.

Despite my worry, distress and anxiety about my day-to-day hardship and my uncertain future, I still managed to smile, relax a little and enjoy myself. She stood by me for many long weeks, lending me her ear and her shoulder to lean on.

I will never be able to pay her back for everything she has done for me. All I can do is tell her just how grateful I am for the happiness she brought to my life and the serenity I experienced even as I faced cancer.

Gaetan Roy

From all of us at the Quebec Cancer Foundation and from everyone she has supported over the years, thank you for your compassion and care, Jacqueline!